American football in Germany
American football hasbeen playedin Germany since 1945 and was mainly operated by occupation soldiers of the US Army until 1979. Since then there has been a German association and an organized gaming company. The umbrella organization " American Football Association of Germany " (AFVD) operates the national leagues German Football League and German Football League 2 , and all other football leagues at national level. With over 67,000 members, the AFVD is the sixth largest team sports association in Germany (as of 2019).
history
1945 to 1976 - Football in American barracks
After the end of World War II , many US soldiers stationed in Germany played football in their barracks and housing developments. The first major football game was played between two barracks teams in Frankfurt's Waldstadion (now Commerzbank-Arena), which was renamed the Victory Stadium by the occupying forces . Until July 1946, American soldiers played football games there regularly. After that, the stadium was opened to German soccer teams and less and less used for American football. Until 1977 the sport was carried on almost exclusively by stationed US soldiers. Most of the games were played in the barracks, to which only soldiers were allowed. The sport was practiced in Germany, but without the participation of the locals, who only knew football from the US media.
This changed in the spring of 1976 when the planned Intercontinental Football League created the college teams Texas A & M – Kingsville Javelinas (then NAIA champions, now in NCAA Division II College Football , not to be confused with the better-known first-class aggies from Texas A&M University ) and Henderson State University Reddies came to Europe. They played in Germany in the sold-out Berlin Olympic Stadium (17-8), in the Mannheim stadium on Alsenweg (20-6), in the Nuremberg Municipal Stadium (today Max-Morlock-Stadion) (17-15), as well as in Paris and Vienna. Although most of the spectators were soldiers stationed in Mannheim and Nuremberg, the games of the Javelinas made American football more popular in Germany.
1977 to 1981 - Foundation of the first German football clubs
The first football club in Germany were the Frankfurter Löwen , founded in 1977 by Alexander Sperber and Wolfgang Lehneis. Sperber studied architecture in Frankfurt, where he had played football at Frankfurt Junior Highschool and Frankfurt Highschool. He then studied art in the USA. Lehneis was able to receive the American Forces Network , a soldier football television channel, and in this way collect theoretical football fundamentals. The team initially consisted mainly of Americans and a few Germans and played only games against teams from other military bases in the vicinity, which they mostly lost. On May 1, 1978, the Düsseldorf Panther , the second German football club, was founded. This was followed by the Munich Cowboys , the Ansbach Grizzlies , the Bremerhaven Seahawks and the Berlin Bären (now Berlin Adler). After the founding of the American Football Bund Deutschland (AFBD) in March 1979, the teams began regular game operations. The first game of the newly founded league under the AFBD was won by the Frankfurt Lions on August 4, 1979 in front of about 4,000 spectators 38-0 against the Düsseldorf Panthers. Mainly because of the many experienced Americans in the Lions' squad, they won the German championship, the forerunner of the German Bowl . The Frankfurt match won 14: 8 in front of about 400 visitors against the Ansbach Grizzlies. The league's average attendance in 1979 was around 600, with the last-placed Düsseldorf Panthers having the highest average with around 2,000 spectators per game.
Because of the poor performance of the NRW clubs, an initiative was launched to reduce American participation. The leadership of the AFBD did not agree, as this would represent a massive cut in the quality of the game. Meinhard Pfanner, the then president of the Düsseldorf Panther , founded together with a few other teams, mainly from North Rhine-Westphalia, an independent, AFBD independent, game operation with American restrictions. This became the American Football Association (AFV), which began playing in the Northwest German Football League (NFL) parallel to the AFBD League. The Frankfurt Lions won the AFBD final again against the Ansbach Grizzlies , this time with a final score of 21:12 in front of around 4,000 spectators in Frankfurt. The Düsseldorf Panthers, which meanwhile also had American players in their ranks, were able to prevail in the AFV final against the previously strongly favored Bremerhaven Seahawks . In front of about 8,000 visitors, they won 15: 6 in Essen's Grugastadion . The following year, the German clubs tried to resolve the conflict between the two football associations and to found a joint association. However, these attempts failed at the AFBD and its President Paolo Wölker. In 1981 the Ansbach Grizzlies were able to prevail against the lions for the first time in the AFBD championship. They won the final on October 25, 1981 27: 6 in front of an audience of 2,500 in Cologne's Südstadion . AFV champions were again the Panthers from Düsseldorf. They prevailed against the Mannheim Redskins in the Park Stadium in Gelsenkirchen in front of 11,000 spectators with 34:18 . The initially planned game between the championship teams of the two associations in the home stadium of the Mönchengladbach Mustangs was canceled due to the high financial demands of the AFBD.
In 1981 the first game of a German national team also took place. The players came from the ranks of the AFBD teams, all teams should be represented. National coach was Wolfgang Lehneis, who later also became the first German head coach of the Frankfurt Lions. The premiere game was released in Italian Castel Giorgio against the Italian national team played and could by the Germans with 12: be won 6th The second leg in Cologne's Südstadion lost the selection team against the highly superior Italians.
1982 to 1989 - beginnings of organized gaming under the AFVD
The AFBD, under the leadership of President Jürgen Grahmke, broke up due to financial problems on October 16, 1982 and stopped playing. The AFV then founded the American Football Association Germany (AFVD) after a public vote by all associations and clubs . For the first time a championship was held between all teams in Germany, the final of which was called the 1st German Super Bowl and later renamed the German Bowl . The first final won the Ansbach Grizzlies, who competed against the Cologne Crocodiles in front of around 8,000 visitors in the Grugastadion Essen . Since the merger of the two leagues, German players began to take on a more important role in the games, so the running back of the Düsseldorf Panthers, Markus Becker , was elected German Bowl MVP , the most valuable player, every time from 1983 to 1986 . Over the years, the number of viewers for league games rose to an average of more than 1,000 and German football reached its first peak, which was mainly due to the reorientation from pure sport to a "sporting event" with a supporting program such as music and food. Due to the good performance of German players, the AFVD decided to limit the number of US-Americans that can be used in order to encourage and challenge German players more.
In 1983 the first comparison between Germany and the country of origin of the sport, the United States of America, took place. Two German selection teams competed against the college team of the University of Missouri . The German teams lost the two games in Essen and Stuttgart by a large margin. This year the Düsseldorf Panthers achieved the first perfect season in the history of the league, after winning all twelve games with a point balance of 505: 54. Until 1986 the Panthers dominated the league together with the Ansbach Grizzlies. The latter were represented in every German Bowl from 1979 to 1986 and won three of them. The Panthers were in the final for the trophy from 1983 to 1986 and also won three times. The number of spectators rose even further , especially in Ansbach and Düsseldorf , and the finals were played on average in front of an audience of 10,000 people. 1987 began the heyday of the Berlin Adler under head coach Billy Brooks , who had previously played in the NFL . From 1987 to 1994 the Adler were able to show a record of 85 wins with only 6 defeats. They dominated the German Bowl in 1987 in front of 17,000 spectators in the overcrowded Mommsen Stadium and won 37:12 against the Badener Greifs .
The first women's football game in Germany also took place in 1987 after various teams were founded in 1986. The women's team of the Berlin Adler competed against a joint women's selection of the teams of the Hanover Ambassadors and Cologne Crocodiles. On September 27, the selection of crocodiles and ambassadors won 56:20 against the Berlin team. This game was followed by many friendlies between the then ten or so women's teams across Germany.
Since the Mommsen Stadium at the German Bowl 1987 did not have enough space for all visitors, it was agreed with the city of Berlin that the next final will be played in the Olympic Stadium there. Since the Berlin Adler had to admit defeat to the Düsseldorf team in the semi-finals and no Berlin team took part in the German Bowl, only 11,000 spectators came to the final in 1988. Many teams hired a US quarterback , running back and linebacker , the key positions on a football team, which thus took on an important role again. This resulted in stronger offense performances, which made the game even more attractive for visitors. Some clubs were able to double their attendance numbers as a result. The Berlin Adler prevailed again in the German Bowl and won with 30:23 in front of almost 11,000 spectators in the Nuremberg Municipal Stadium against the Red Barons Cologne .
1990 to 1994 - US professionals in Germany and Europe
To expand the market presence of the US professional league, the National Football League (NFL), the NFL's preseason games were held at London's Wembley Stadium from 1983 , and regularly as the American Bowl from 1986 ; since 1989 in Japan in the Tokyo Dome ; all games were sold out within a very short time. After football was reported on German television on the occasion of the Superbowl or Germanbowl, cable television made US football (NFL and college) better known in Great Britain and Germany from the mid-1980s.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the NFL scheduled a preseason game in the Berlin Olympic Stadium in 1990 as part of the American Bowl . This encounter was also part of the advertising strategy for the World League of American Football (WLAF, English for American Football World League ), which was started in 1991, and also a test for the general acceptance of football in Germany.
The WLAF was suspended after 1992, but the American Bowl series in Berlin took place from 1992 to 1994, and was ended in favor of the WLAF's resumption as NFL Europe in 1995.
| date | winner | Points | loser | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 11, 1990 | Los Angeles Rams | 19th | Kansas City Chiefs | 3 |
| August 3, 1991 | San Francisco 49ers | 21st | Chicago Bears | 7th |
| 15th August 1992 | Miami Dolphins | 31 | Denver Broncos | 27 |
| August 7, 1993 | Minnesota Vikings | 20th | Buffalo Bills | 6th |
| August 13, 1994 | New York Giants | 28 | San Diego Chargers | 20th |
The World League of American Football, or later NFL Europe and NFL Europe, was an offshoot of the NFL. It should make the sport more popular in Europe and act as a kind of minor league for the National Football League. In the first season, Frankfurt Galaxy played as the only team housed in Germany in the WLAF. Galaxy had an average of more than 30,000 spectators for home games in the Waldstadion. Since the American teams, in contrast to the European teams, had too little income and attendance, the league was discontinued after the 1992 season a year before the planned test phase ended.
Since 1991 there have been efforts for a professional league with mainly European players. On this occasion, the Hamburg Blue Devils were founded in 1992 , which should be the figurehead of a league or tournament series organized by a television station. This resulted in the “ Schweppes Cool Masters”, in which four teams competed against each other in 1992 and twelve teams in 1993 in Hamburg 's Volkspark Stadium. The average attendance was around 5,000 in the first season and around 8,500 in the second season. The Blue Devils won both tournaments without a loss. Following the two tournaments, the “ Football League of Europe ” was founded with a budget of around five million DM (around € 2,550,000 ), a league made up of eight European teams. The organizers expected an average of 5,000 visitors per home game - only the Hamburg Blue Devils with around 10,000 spectators per game and the Great Britain Spartans with an average of 5,000 could achieve this. Most of the other teams could only play in front of an audience of about 4,000 people. The final of the Jim Thorpe Trophy was won by the Stockholm Nordic Vikings in the Volksparkstadion in front of 18,000 spectators against the Blue Devils, which exceeded the organizers' expectations by some 1,000 guests. The Blue Devils got out of the league after the season to focus on the game. Then two of the three remaining teams withdrew, which is why in 1995 only the Frankfurt Knights remained as a German team in the FLE.
German football continued to dominate the Berlin Adler with quarterback Clifford Madison , who won their third German Bowl trophy in 1990 with a 50:38 win over the Cologne Crocodiles. This year they were the first German team to take part in the Eurobowl , the final of the European Football League . The eagles were also able to benefit from the large-scale promotion of the American Bowl in Berlin - the many posters, radio advertising and other measures drew an average of almost twice as many spectators into the stadiums as in the previous year. The following year, the Adler won the final again against the Cologne Crocodiles and were the first team to take part in the German Bowl three times in a row. Until 1991 the Bundesliga was divided into four departments - North, South, West and East. By a unanimous decision of the AFVD it was brought into its current form with two departments - North and South. At that time, Ralf Kleinmann , later one of the most successful footballers in NFL Europe, was playing in Cologne and scored most of the league's field goals . After this German Bowl, the eagles' high phase gradually ended and the panthers returned to their earlier dominance. So they won with a young team in the German Bowl of 1992 with 24:23 against the Munich Cowboys . The Cowboys won a year later, while the Cologne Crocodiles were runner-up for the third time in four years. For the 1994 season so-called "Interconference Games" were introduced, in which a team from the GFL North and a team from the GFL South department compete against each other; previously the teams only met opponents from the other division in the play-offs. After a two-year absence from the final, the Berlin Eagles faced the Düsseldorf Panthers again in the German Bowl in 1994 and lost 17:27 in front of around 8,000 spectators in the Hanau Herbert Dröse Stadium .
1995 to 2000 - the peak of German football
In 1995 the World League of American Football was re-established as the “ World League ” without US teams, but with Frankfurt Galaxy and Rhein Fire as German teams. In the first year, the Frankfurt Galaxy in the Waldstadion could only have an average attendance of around 12,500, with Rhein Fire with almost 17,000 viewers per game, the highest average in the league. With Ernie Stautner, the Galaxy had a former NFL player born in Germany as coach and were able to win the World Bowl , the final of the league, in the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium with 26:22 against the Amsterdam Admirals . The television broadcast of many German World League games by the private broadcaster VOX brought more and more viewers to the stadiums of the two German teams. Just one year later, the Galaxy was playing again in front of over 30,000 spectators. The number of spectators at home games Rhein Fires in the Rheinstadion rose to an average of 34,628 by the year 2000, which made it the top team in terms of attendance. In games between Rhein Fire and Frankfurt Galaxy, called the Germany Derby , the stadiums were regularly sold out long in advance due to the rivalry between the two teams. In 1998 the World League was renamed "NFL Europe League" or "NFL Europe" (NFLE). A year later, the league with Berlin Thunder , who played in the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark , was supplemented by a German team. For this, the England monarchs fell out of the league. From 1995 to the closure of the NFL Europe in 2007, at least one German team was in the World Bowl each time, the Galaxy four times and Rhein Fire three times. Galaxy won in 1995 and 1999, and Rhein Fire won in 1998 and 2000.
In 1995, 189 clubs, more teams than ever before, registered for the game. The Hamburg Blue Devils wanted to be the first team to join the Bundesliga, as they had played in the Football League of Europe a year earlier. This led to a conflict between AFVD and the Bundesliga teams, which were in favor of the Blue Devils. Ultimately, the clubs were able to prevail and the Hamburgers were accepted, and another club was added. This increased the league from ten to twelve teams. The Blue Devils were immediately successful and were able to keep their average attendance of 9,000 from the previous year in the FLE. Only the Braunschweig Lions could show a similarly high average, the league average was around 2,500. The reason for these high average numbers in Hamburg and Braunschweig were performances by, for example, Herbert Grönemeyer , Den Fantastischen Vier and Nena in the stadium. The Blue Devils played their way into the German Bowl and were defeated by the Düsseldorf Panthers with 17:10 in the Eintracht Stadium in Braunschweig in front of over 12,000 visitors. Because of the generally higher sporting level and the popularity of the newly entered Blue Devils, more sponsors came to the highest German football league. Many clubs worked with a high six- to low seven-digit budget. In the same year, the Düsseldorf Panthers achieved their first German team success in the European Football League (EFL). In Eurobowl IX , the final of the European Football League, the Panthers prevailed against defending champion London Olympians with 21:14 . The game in Stuttgart's Gottlieb Daimler Stadium (now the Mercedes-Benz Arena) was played in front of a crowd of 20,000 people, which was the most popular game in history for German teams at the time. By the end of the decade, four more German teams had triumphed in the EFL. The Hamburg Blue Devils won three titles in a row before they had to admit defeat to the Braunschweig Lions in the purely German final in 1999 . From 1994 to 1997 the Eurobowl was held in the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, from 1998 to 2000 in the Volksparkstadion, the home field of the Hamburg Blue Devils.
The Braunschweig Lions reached the play-offs for the first time in 1994 and were able to reach them every year until 2008. Together with the Hamburg Blue Devils they dominated the league - from 1995 to 2000 at least one of the two teams was in the German Bowl, in 1998 and 1999 there was a final between the Blue Devils and the Lions. Since the two teams had the most spectators, the finals were better attended than all other games before. In 1999, 30,400 spectators saw German Bowl XXI between the Blue Devils and Lions in Hamburg's Volksparkstadion. This value has not been exceeded to this day. In 1999 the 1st Bundesliga was renamed the German Football League . For the 2001 season, both the Lions and the Blue Devils took over financially and had to increase their ticket prices, which in turn led to a drop in audience numbers. The Lions won three times, twice against the Devils, the Hamburg only won 31:12 against the Düsseldorf Panthers in 1996. The venue for the final was Braunschweig in 1995 and 2000. From 1996 to 1999 the Blue Devils were the organizers.
2001 to 2007 - rebuilding after economic collapse
In NFL Europe, the number of viewers for the three German teams continued to rise until 2002, when the Galaxy 2003 only had 23,000 viewers per game, 10,000 fewer than in the previous year. As a result, the Barcelona Dragons were replaced by the Cologne Centurions in 2004 . The Centurions played in the Rheinenergiestadion and played in front of an average of 12,000 visitors in their first season. With the founding of a Cologne team, the audience numbers of the Düsseldorf Rhein Fire, which played in 2003 and 2004 due to the new construction of the LTU Arena (today Esprit Arena) in the Gelsenkirchen Arena AufSchalke (today Veltins Arena), decreased drastically. Fire played in front of an average of around 22,000 viewers, compared to around 35,000 the previous year. In 2005 the last German team was added with the Hamburg Sea Devils . Only in 2005 did the Amsterdam Admirals win the World Bowl, in the other years a German team won.
In the US, Roger Goodell was appointed commissioner of the NFL on September 1, 2006 , replacing Paul Tagliabue, who has been in office since 1989. Two weeks later, the NFL Europe was renamed "NFL Europe" due to the language used in the two host countries. Goodell also set other priorities in the league's commercial valuation, and NFL Europe was unceremoniously abandoned after the 2007 season in favor of a more global strategy. This was also regretted in the USA.
2008 to present - After the NFL Europe
From 2008 to 2010, the German Bowl was held in the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt am Main and broadcast live on television by German sports television (DSF, since 2010 Sport1). In addition, the German association applied to host the European American Football Championship for 2010 and was awarded this by the European Federation of American Football (EFAF). In the middle of the 2009 season, the Internet TV project GFL-TV or Internet radio project GFL-Radio was launched in order to be able to offer more regular and national reporting on the GFL and GFL2.
As in previous years, the German Football League was dominated by the Braunschweig Lions, who were able to move into the German Bowl for the twelfth time and lead it to their seventh final victory against the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes . There were more than 16,000 viewers in the Commerzbank-Arena itself, the live broadcast of DSF followed an average of 180,000 viewers, which corresponded to a viewing rate of 2.1% in the target group of 14 to 49 year olds. The Lions could not reach the play-offs in the 2009 season for the first time since 1995 - at the end of the regular season they were in last place with the promoted Assindia Cardinals from Essen, which guarantees a place in the play-offs. Due to the better touchdown ratio of the Essenes, they moved into the second part of the season. In the German Bowl on October 3, 2009, the Berlin Adler and the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes stood, celebrating the first final success in the club's history. The Kiel Baltic Hurricanes were also in the final in 2011 and 2012, but were subject to the southern champions Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. In the 2013 final, the Dresden Monarchs lost against the Lions from Braunschweig 34:35 with a fumble by Trevar Deed in a promising field position shortly before the end. It was the first participation for the Dresdeners and thus the first for a team from East Germany and the first title for Braunschweig since 2007. In 2014 Schwäbisch Hall succeeded in winning the southern championship again. In the semifinals Dresden could be defeated, so that the move into the final against Braunschweig succeeded, which, however, as in the entire Perfect Season before, had no major problems in winning the game. The outstanding player was once again quarterback Casey Therriault on the part of the Braunschweiger.
In 2009 a German player who learned to play football in Germany was selected for the first time in the NFL Draft . The offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer , who played for the Düsseldorf Panthers in his youth and then for the Houston Cougars College Football , was selected in the second draft round in a total of 58th place by the New England Patriots and made it into the squad of the multiple super Bowl winner. There he plays as a reserve player for Matt Light and Nick Kaczur and made a few appearances in the first games of the 2009 season . In the following seasons Vollmer managed to establish himself as an important player. In the 2014 NFL season he was able to win the Super Bowl XLIX with the Patriots , making him the second German player to do so after Markus Koch .
German championships
- Main article: German champions (American football)
All German championships are advertised by the AFVD and, with the exception of the German Bowl, hosted by various clubs or associations. The final will be played in the organizer's stadium. In addition, the organizer pays the referees, the medals and the trophy. He just keeps the revenue from ticket sales. The German Bowl, the final of the German Football League , has been taking place since 2010 until further notice in the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark in Berlin , where the Berlin Eagles also play their home games. The final of the 2019 season will again take place in Frankfurt's Commerzbank-Arena . The move from the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark is necessary because extensive construction work is taking place there.
German Bowl
- Main article: German Bowl
| Surname | S. | N | T | B. | P + | P- | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Lions | 11 | 6th | 17th | 64.7% | 432 | 341 | +91 |
| Dusseldorf panther | 6th | 3 | 9 | 66.7% | 173 | 153 | +20 |
| Berlin eagle | 6th | 2 | 8th | 75.0% | 204 | 166 | +38 |
| Hamburg Blue Devils | 4th | 4th | 8th | 50.0% | 181 | 141 | +40 |
| Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns | 4th | 3 | 7th | 57.1% | 185 | 235 | −50 |
| Ansbach grizzlies | 3 | 5 | 8th | 37.5% | 107 | 130 | −23 |
| Frankfurt Lions | 2 | 1 | 3 | 66.7% | 41 | 47 | −6 |
| Cologne crocodiles | 1 | 5 | 6th | 16.7% | 155 | 181 | −26 |
| Kiel Baltic Hurricanes | 1 | 4th | 5 | 20.0% | 149 | 162 | −13 |
| Munich cowboys | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 65 | 60 | +5 |
| Red Barons Cologne | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 43 | 50 | −7 |
| Dresden monarchs | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.0% | 34 | 35 | −1 |
| Frankfurt Universe | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.0% | 19th | 21st | −2 |
| Marburg Mercenaries | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.0% | 13 | 31 | −18 |
| Stuttgart Scorpions | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.0% | 6th | 27 | −21 |
| Baden griffin | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.0% | 12 | 37 | −25 |
|
Legend: S: Siege; N: defeats; T: participations; B: balance; P +: points scored; P-: points allowed; G: total points balance |
|||||||
The German men's championship in American football has been held since 1979. From 1980 to 1982 there were two finals, one between the winners of the AFV League and one between the winners of the AFBD League. With the merger of the AFV and the AFBD, the game became far more popular, with 8,000 spectators at the Gruga Stadium in Essen at the first German Super Bowl between the Ansbach Grizzlies and the Cologne Crocodiles in 1982. By 1987 the number of spectators rose to 17,000, which stagnated by 1994 to less than 8,000 spectators in the Hanau Herbert-Dröse-Stadion . With the entry of the Hamburg Blue Devils into the GFL and their popularity, the number of spectators in the league and at the German Bowl increased again - an increase was recorded every year until 1999. After the record high of 30,400 spectators in Hamburg 's Volksparkstadion , the number of spectators fell again due to the economic collapse of the most successful teams. The most frequent venues were Hamburg and Braunschweig with five events each, followed by Frankfurt am Main with three events. Until the 2010 season there is a contract between the American Football Association Germany and the operating company of the Commerzbank-Arena for this stadium.
In the finals, the teams from the north dominate over the teams from south Germany. In the forty finals so far, North German teams have won 32 titles so far, South teams have only been successful eight times. The last southern success comes from 2018, when the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns were able to defeat the Frankfurt Universe. With a German Bowl score of 11: 6, the Braunschweig Lions have the most wins and the most participations in the final of the German Football League. From 1997 to 2008 they were in every German Bowl, in 2009 they missed the play-offs for the first time since 1995. The most successful trainer is Kent Anderson with seven titles, five with the Lions, one with the Blue Devils and one with the Berlin Adlers.
Junior Bowl
- Main article: Junior Bowl
The Junior Bowl is the final of the German Football League Juniors (GFLJ). The first final of the youth league was played in 1982 between the youth teams of the Düsseldorf Panthers and the Cologne Crocodiles . In Cologne's Südstadion, the Panthers prevailed 13: 6 in front of around 500 spectators. Up to and including 1991, the Panthers stood a total of five more times in the Junior Bowl and could all win. The Cologne Crocodiles won another and the Berlin Adler the other two. In 1992, an unbeaten attendance record was set in the Rudolf Kalweit Stadium in Hanover . Over 2,700 spectators watched the game between the Berlin Rebels and the Stuttgart Scorpions . The Rebels could clearly win with 38: 6. Until 2002 there were no more dominant teams. In 1993 the Cologne Crocodiles defeated the Regensburg Royals in Stuttgart, the next year the Berlin Adler won against the Frankfurt Gamblers in front of 1,340 visitors in Rüsselsheim. The Darmstadt Diamonds brought the Düsseldorf Panther their first defeat in the final in 1995. The Berlin Rebels then won against the youth team of the Munich Cowboys , in 1997 the Berlin Adler won again, this time over the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns . In front of an audience of 1,400 people in Braunschweig's Eintracht Stadium in 1998, the Düsseldorf Panthers won their first youth title in ten years, the final score against Darmstadt Diamonds was 13: 9. The following year the Hamburg Blue Devils secured the trophy for the first time. After a victory of the Berlin Rebels in 2000 and one of the Darmstadt Diamonds in 2001, the second era of the Düsseldorf Panthers began. From 2002 to 2008 they appeared in every Junior Bowl under head coach Oliver Nitschmann and won every one. The Panthers won the youth championships from 2002 to 2004 under HC Steffen Breuer. After his resignation, Oliver Nitschmann was allowed to become the youth coach. In these seven years, the balance was 318: 106 points. In 2009 this series was broken because the Panthers lost to the Berlin Adler in the semi-finals. Subsequently, the Adler were able to prevail in the final with 21:14 against the Cologne Falcons . The Junior Bowl has been taking place in the Hockeypark , home of the Mönchengladbach Mavericks , since 2006 . In the first year of the event in Mönchengladbach there were almost 2,000 spectators in the stadium.
The participants in the Junior Bowl have only been played by the GFLJ since 2001, before the respective national champions held a play-off round.
LadiesBowl
- Main article: Ladiesbowl
The final game of the Bundesliga Women 's Ladies Bowl (also Ladies Bowl and rare Ladies Bowl) and has been held since 1,992th The first official final of the league, which was founded in 1990, contested the Bamberg Lady Bears and the Mülheim Shamrocks against each other. The Lady Bears became the first "Official German Women's Champion in American Football" with a 23:00 victory over the Shamrocks. The game was played in the Bamberg main arena in the Volkspark (now the Fuchs Park Stadium) in front of 500 visitors, which is still the record number of spectators for a women's football game in Germany. The record champion is the women's division of the Berlin Adler, which has won the LadiesBowl ten times. After its dissolution in 2004, the Berlin Kobra Ladies were founded by some old Adler players under the Pro Sport Berlin 24 sports club . These were able to prevail every time from 2007 until today in the final of the women's Bundesliga.
structure
In Germany there are seven game levels for men's teams. The top two leagues are the German Football League (GFL) and the German Football League 2 (GFL2). This is followed by the regional leagues, top leagues, association leagues, state leagues and advanced leagues, all of which are organized by the respective state associations. The lowest league, the Aufbauliga, currently only exists in Bavaria. With 46 teams, most of the clubs play in the fifth-class association or in the state league in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.
At the moment around 32,000 players and around 450 clubs are registered with the AFVD and the regional associations. This means that almost half of all European football players play in Germany.
Men's
- Main articles: German Football League and German Football League 2
The German Football League 1 and 2 are the national leagues of Germany. They are organized directly by the American Football Association Germany. Twelve teams compete in the GFL, although there were only eleven in 2009 , since the Hamburg Blue Devils started in the regional league. 16 teams start in GFL2. Both leagues are divided into north and south groups, in which the same number of teams play. In a season with twelve participating teams, the last-placed team in the respective GFL1 group and the first-placed team in the GFL2 group compete against each other in a relegation game to determine whether they will remain in the league or their promotion to Germany's top division. Until 2009 the first of the Regionalliga West and the Regionalliga Nord as well as the second of the Regionalliga West and the first of the Regionalliga Ost competed against each other in the fight for places in the GFL2-Nord. This will determine two climbers. Starting in 2010, the first place in the three leagues will hold a tournament for promotion places. Every club that plays in the GFL or GFL2 must have certain financial resources and maintain its own youth program. Exceptions are granted in rare and well-founded cases.
Below GFL 1 and 2, the leagues are organized by the respective regional associations. Depending on the association, there are three to five further league levels.Bavaria has the most leagues with the Aufbauliga, the Landesliga, the Verbandsliga, the Bayernliga and two regional leagues, followed by Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia with state, association, upper and regional leagues. The mode of promotion and relegation within these leagues is determined by the regional association, usually one club is promoted and one relegated , relegation rounds are not held in any federal state.
Women
- Main article: Women's football in Germany
The first women's football league existed in Germany as early as 1990 , when six teams, mainly from western and northern Germany, took part. Over the years the number of women's teams in Germany increased and the women's Bundesliga had to expand. Since 2007, all ten clubs, like in the men's Bundesliga, have had to have various financial bases in order to be allowed to participate in the game. In preparation for a 2nd Bundesliga , a development league with four teams was launched in 2008. In 2009 this was transformed into a real Bundesliga with two groups organized by the AFVD. Since then, a total of 16 teams have taken part in the games of the American Football Association Germany. Since the teams usually have to drive long distances of several thousand kilometers per season, mostly only clubs with higher-class men's teams and thus more sound financial bases have a women's department.
Women over the age of 16 are eligible to participate in the two national leagues, and they can play in the B and C tackle youth teams of the clubs as well as in flag football departments . Until the introduction of the B and C tackle youth in 2009, women under 16 and over 14 were not allowed to participate in any team's play, as the association's national game rules forbade mixed play in full-contact teams.
youth
- Main article: German Football League Juniors
Youth football is divided into three groups in Germany. In the A youth, youngsters from 16 to 19 years of age play in the B youth from 14 to 16 years and in the C youth from 10 to 13 year olds. A youth football is played in a league system with up to five levels, depending on the state. The highest league is the German Football League Juniors (GFLJ) which is organized by the AFVD and includes teams from all over Germany. Every year there is a youth tournament of the regional associations, in which they let a selection team of 100 players compete against each other. The American Football Association of Germany selects the national team from these players. Until 2008 the tournament took place in Berlin, due to space problems it was held in Hamm in 2009. In 2019 the Oldenburg Outlaws were deliverers .
Universities
American football teams have existed at several universities in Germany since 1988. The first tournament, called Hochschulbowl, was won by the Passau Red Wolves in the final on June 30, 1990 against the Konstanz Falcons . In 1991, 1992 and 1993 the Red Wolves won again and became the most successful university team in Germany , together with the Düsseldorf Guerrilleros from Heinrich Heine University , who were able to take home every university bowl from 2000 to 2003 and 2005.
In 2006 the university bowl was renamed UniBowl and refers to the annual final tournament between German universities. In 2009 the tournament got its original name again. Six universities participated. The Karlsruhe Engineers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology won the University Bowl XX in Hamburg. Many other German universities have their own American football team without participating in such tournaments. The reasons for this are usually the high travel costs and the large number of staff required.
There has been a kind of national team since 1998. Preparations for this have been going on since 1994. Two thirds of the team consists of players from Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Karlsruhe University, Paderborn University and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and one third is made up of players from other universities. In 2000, the GERmaniacs first took part in the European College Bowl, a tournament between European university selection teams in Leicester , England . Despite the long preparation time of several months compared to the other teams, they were eliminated early on. In 2002 the team was reorganized. The first game took place on October 26, 2002 against the A youth team of the Netherlands . The team under head coach Charris Tzellos from the University of Mannheim just lost the game 18:19.
Foreign players
Many clubs take advantage of the opportunity to "import" up to eight players from the United States. Since these are not allowed to be remunerated according to the federal game rules and usually the lack of a work permit, the club provides the player with an apartment, food, the membership fee for a fitness studio and often a car. In some cases, especially if the players have been playing in Germany for a long time, they get an employment contract with one of the team sponsors to work there alongside training. Most of the players are graduates from smaller colleges in the USA, while former professional players like James Taylor , who was cornerback with the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets and has played with the Weinheim Longhorns since 2008 , come to Germany less often . Due to their longer experience than most German players, these players are mostly top performers of the team, which is why the key positions such as quarterback , wide receiver , running back or linebacker are mainly occupied by foreign players. Many teams have two US running backs, a linebacker and a safety .
Most of the Americans who come to Germany want to use German football as a kind of “springboard” for a professional career in Canada or the United States. Very few players manage to do this, such as Mike Renaud , who was quarterback for the Mönchengladbach Mavericks and was signed as a punter in 2008 by the Calgary Stampeders from the Canadian Football League (CFL) . Some other players are aware of the end of their professional careers and only come to Germany for international experience.
Stadiums and audience numbers
| society | total | cut | league | Tickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kiel Baltic Hurricanes | 25,527 | 5.105 | GFL | ∅ € 12 |
| Braunschweig Lions | 24,100 | 4,820 | GFL | ∅ 18 € |
| Dresden monarchs | 8,646 | 1,729 | GFL | ∅ 9 € |
| Frankfurt Universe | 9,952 | 1,658 | GFL | ∅ € 8 |
| Berlin eagle | 6.262 | 1,252 | GFL | ∅ € 12 |
| Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns | 5,681 | 1,136 | GFL | ∅ 7 € |
| Munich cowboys | 6.240 | 1,040 | GFL | ∅ € 8 |
| Mönchengladbach Mavericks | 5,120 | 1,028 | RL | ∅ 5 € |
|
Club: name of the club; Total: total number of viewers in the 2009 season; Average: Average viewers per home game in the 2009 season; League: League of the club, RL = regional league (3rd league); Tickets: Average ticket price for home games in the 2009 season; |
||||
Most German football teams play on the sports facilities of the local sports clubs. Some teams, especially in larger cities, use the stadiums of the larger football clubs. The first and so far only German stadium owned by a football team is the Evendi-Arena ( spelling eVendi Arena ) in Hamburg , where the Hamburg Blue Devils play their home games. In the leagues below the GFL and GFL2, football stadiums do not have to meet any special conditions. Many teams in lower leagues therefore play on normal sports fields . For stadiums in which the leagues organized in the AFVD play, at least 10,000 spectator seats and a very strong floodlight system are required. Such stadiums usually cost several 1,000 euros per game and represent the largest cost factor for most clubs.
The number of spectators varies greatly depending on the league and the location of the team. For example, the victories Sentinels, third place in the lowest league, play on average in front of a backdrop of over 2,500 people, while the Stuttgart Silver Arrows of the GFL2 can only book around 200 spectators per game. That's because the Stuttgart Scorpions play in a higher league in the same city. Most spectators are regularly drawn to the stadiums in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. With the Baltic Hurricanes, Kiel has one of the most successful football clubs in Germany. In addition, the team gives out some free tickets for standing room and also offers a supporting program with guests such as Sonya Kraus or the Lord Mayor of Kiel, who perform the coin toss. In addition, the Hurricanes play in the Holstein Stadium and can therefore count on an average attendance of up to 6,000 spectators per game. Another crowd puller are the Hamburg Blue Devils, who played in the GFL until 2008 and always attract around 1,000 visitors on average. The Braunschweig Lions have won the most German Bowl so far. They play in front of an average of almost 5,000 spectators in the Eintracht Stadium , although the number of spectators has been falling since 2000, when the average attendance for Lions was more than 11,000.
Other strongholds of American football are the Rhine-Main area and the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region . The NFL Europe teams Rhein Fire , Cologne Centurions and the Frankfurt Galaxy played there and ensured that the football was successful. Most football clubs in Germany are located in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. Only a few teams attract more than 1,000 spectators per game, mostly at derbies , at games between first-placed players in the league, or at well-known clubs.
Media presence
watch TV
Regular American football reports on German television are currently available every Sunday evening on ProSieben Maxx during the current season. Some regional broadcasters broadcast summaries or irregular entire matches by local teams. The Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) reported, for example, about the Berlin Adler and the North German Radio (NDR) on the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes , the Lübeck Cougars and other north German clubs.
German football
The main television partner of the AFVD is Deutsche Sportfernsehen (DSF), which works closely with AFVD's own production company German Football Fernsehen (GFF). This production company is a registered cooperative of the association, the GFL clubs and some GFL2 clubs. The television rights for all GFL and GFL2 games are held by German Football Partners , a subsidiary of AFVD. In 2002 the GFF produced the GFL magazine “Kick off - Das GFL Magazin”, which was broadcast weekly on DSF. From 2004 to 2006, the magazine was made by rheinmaintv and easy.TV transmitted. The format included a summary of the match day, interviews with players and coaching analyzes. The magazine also reported on the games of the German men's national team .
The German Bowl, the final of the German Football League, has been broadcast live on German television since 2004, from 2004 to 2007 by rheinmaintv and easy.TV. German Bowl XXX was first broadcast on DSF in 2008. The audience rating averaged 180,000 viewers, ARD and ZDF broadcast summaries. In 2009 and 2010 the biggest German football event was shown again on German sports television. In 2011, Eurosport and Eurosport 2 broadcast live for the first time .
NFL
The Super Bowl has had a live broadcast slot on German television since 1988 . Tele 5 broadcast the events from 1988 to 1992. In 1990 and 1991, a two-hour preliminary report was produced. The Super Bowl had another broadcast slot in 1990 on the sports channel . From 1993 to 1998 DSF broadcast on Free TV.
From 1992 to 2003, Premiere (now Sky Germany) broadcast the Super Bowl encrypted on Pay TV for the first time, then unencrypted on Free TV in 2004 and 2005. 1999 to 2003 Sat.1 took over the free TV broadcast.
From 2006 to 2011, the Championship Games and the Super Bowl were broadcast on ARD . The audience ratings were between 10 and 30% with 300,000 to 600,000 viewers. Fans often criticized the tabloid style with celebrities like Franziska van Almsick or Boris Becker as co-commentators on Super Bowl broadcasts.
Sat.1 has been broadcasting the Super Bowl live again since 2012. Since the 2015/16 season, the private broadcaster ProSieben MAXX has broadcast two games each Sunday, the London Games and the Thanksgiving games on free TV. The playoffs will be broadcast on both ProSieben MAXX and Sat.1. The ratings are on average around 350,000 viewers.
Further games could be received from 2006 to 2016 on the pay channels NASN , ESPN America , Sport1 US and Sport1 + . Sport1 US last broadcast all Thursday games, the Sunday Night Game and the Monday Night Game in the 2015/16 season. Since the 2016/17 season, around three games per game day of the regular season, on Sundays the NFL RedZone conference , all playoff games and the Super Bowl have been broadcast by the paid internet provider DAZN .
| year | Free TV | pay TV |
|---|---|---|
| 1988-1989 | Tele 5 | |
| 1990 | Tele 5 | |
| 1991 | Tele 5 | |
| 1992-1998 | Tele 5 (from 1993 under the name DSF ) | premiere |
| 1999-2003 | Sat 1 | premiere |
| 2004-2005 | Premiere (unencrypted) | |
| 2006-2010 | ARD | NASN (English commentary / from 2009 under the name ESPN America ) |
| 2011 | ARD | ESPN America (English commentary) |
| 2012-2013 | Sat 1 | ESPN America (English commentary)
Sport1 1+ |
| 2014-2015 | Sat 1 | Sports 1 US |
| 2016 | Sat 1 | |
| since 2017 | Sat 1 | DAZN (Internet streaming) |
NFL Europe
The NFL Europe final , or NFL Europe, was broadcast live from 1995 until the league was dissolved in 2007. The final of the World League of American Football , the predecessor of the NFL Europe, was broadcast by the sports channel in 1993. From 1996 to 1999, the German sports television broadcast, then premiered digitally and unencrypted until 2005. In 2006, the World Bowl was not shown on German-language free TV. The last live broadcast on DSF followed in 2007. NASN (now ESPN America) also broadcast most of the World Bowls with English comments. In 2007, DSF broadcast a weekly summary of the previous weekend's games.
The broadcast of the World Bowl regularly attracted more TV viewers than the Super Bowl. In 1999, an average of over a million viewers saw the final between the Frankfurt Galaxy and the Barcelona Dragons . The summary of the ARD for the World Bowl 2007 was followed by around 600,000 viewers.
Print media
The weekly sports magazine " Huddle ", which reports on the games of the German Football League, the National Football League and college football in the United States, is the only football magazine in Germany. With a weekly circulation of around 17,000 and 3,000 subscribers, the huddle reaches roughly every second football club member in Germany.
Most football club games are reported in the regional daily newspapers the day after the game, often only as a small note in the sports section.
Internet
The Internet is an important medium for American football in Germany. On the one hand, the numerous football portals offer football fans a good source of information that is not available to them on television; on the other hand, many clubs broadcast radio streams or summaries of many games in moving images Internet one. The German Football TV (GFF), a composite of all GFL clubs, since 2009 produces every match the magazine GFL TV , in the short match reports with comments from Andreas Renner reports on the last match day in the GFL.
Homepages are an important medium for the clubs to distribute match reports, tables and other information. Some clubs register hits of several 100,000 visitors per year. Of the currently 15 teams in GFL 1, two (New Yorker Lions Braunschweig and Dresden Monarchs) have a webstream service that offers every game of their own team live and free of charge on the Internet. In addition, some clubs, such as the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, have set up their own web radio in recent years.
German football in international comparison
National teams
All German national football teams, i.e. the men's team since 1982, the youth national team since 1993 and the women's selection since 2009, are organized by the AFVD. From 2000 to 2005 there was a German flag football Germany selection. Due to a lack of interest and insufficient funding, Germany has since been represented in international competitions by the reigning German flag football champions or another selected club.
Men's
- Main article: German national American football team
The men's national team was founded just two years after the first organized match operation began in Germany. The Germans played their first game against the Italian national team and won in Italy 12: 6. The second leg clearly lost the newly founded German team in Cologne. In 1983 the first European championship with five nations took place. Germany took third place ahead of France and Austria . Two years later, Germany was third again. The winner was Finland . In 1987 the Germans won the silver medal after losing in the final to the Italian team by 24:22. After the European Championship in Germany in 1989, the association's financial strength decreased. As a result, the team could not take part in the 1991 European Championship. After another third place, the AFVD cut all funds from the national team due to increasing financial problems. Increasing popularity and an incipient professionalization of football in Germany led to the re-establishment of the selection team in 1998. Due to the financial difficulties of the Swedish federation, which was to host the 1999 championship, the EM 2000 was relocated to Germany. Under former NFL coach John Ralston , the German national team came in second in 2000. A year later, the Germans won their first European championship title in Hanau in front of several 1,000 spectators. In 2005, the team achieved second place behind Sweden . At the American Football World Cup , the German team came third in 2003 and 2007. The greatest success so far, besides winning the European Championship, was the gold medal at the World Games 2005 in Duisburg. The German team won against Sweden in front of around 20,000 spectators. From 2010 the team will play against the Japanese national team as part of the German Japan Bowl . In 2014 he managed to defend the European title in the final against Austria in double overtime. Quarterback Marco Ehrenfried, who is also the first quarterback in Schwäbisch Hall, became MVP.
Some of the players in the national team are recruited through direct screening by AFVD scouts or through so-called try-outs . Most of the players come from GFL and GFL2 teams. In 2009 there were only two regional league players in the squad.
Women
In response to the decision of the IFAF to bring the women's world championship forward to 2010, the AFVD organized viewing camps for the establishment of a women's national team as early as 2009. The World Cup was originally planned for 2012 and the team should not be founded until 2010. Except for the attack coordinator, the appointment of the remaining coaches is still pending.
youth
The youth national team goes back to 1993, when the AFVD, with the help of McDonald’s, organized a South German and a North German selection for a meeting at the American Bowl in Berlin. The best players for an all-German team were selected from this. This mode is still used today with minor deviations. The national associations form selections for each federal state and in a so-called "youth country tournament", the American Football Association Germany sifts through the best players and invites them to another screening appointment. At the European level, the German team is one of the best thanks to three victories in the European Championship (1998, 2000 and 2008). Financially, the team is completely borne by the AFVD, which has invested several 100,000 € so far , as the youth national team is not subsidized by Germany. At the first Junior World Championship, which was held in Canton in 2009 , the team reached fifth place, making it the best European participant. Only the teams from Canada, Mexico, Japan and the United States, all countries in which American football is professionally operated, were able to place before Germany.
Europe
Germany is considered a pioneer of American football outside the United States and, together with Austria, dominates European football. In the Euro Top 20 , a list drawn up by the European Association based on performance in official European games, two German teams are represented with the Braunschweig Lions in 15th place and the Berlin Adler in 7th place.
The European Football League (EFL) is a European league organized by the European Federation of American Football , in which the national champions compete against each other. 11 German teams have taken part in the EFL so far. In the final, the so-called Eurobowl , German teams have been represented nine times so far. In 1999 there was a German final between the Hamburg Blue Devils and the Braunschweig Lions. In Eurobowl IX , the Düsseldorf Panthers were the first German team to win the Eurobowl. The most successful German team are the Blue Devils, who stood in every EFL final from 1996 to 2000 inclusive and won three times. The last two German victories were achieved by the Lions in Eurobowl XIII against the Hamburg Blue Devils and in Eurobowl XVII against the Chrysler Vienna Vikings (now Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna). Germany hosted the European final in 1991 and from 1994 to 2003 , with the exception of 2001 . The game was played once in the Offenbach stadium on Bieberer Berg , four times in the Gottlieb Daimler stadium in Stuttgart , three times in the Hamburg Millerntor stadium and twice in the Eintracht stadium in Braunschweig . A kind of smaller EFL is the EFAF-Cup , in which lower-ranking teams of the first division compete against each other. The EFAF Cup has been taking place since 2002. Since then, five German teams have participated. The Berlin Adler won the tournament in 2008 and the Marburg Mercenaries in 2005.
German players in the NFL
The first player to learn the sport of football in Germany and to have been drafted by a National Football League team is Sebastian Vollmer . He first played in the youth team of the Düsseldorf Panther in the German Football League Juniors and in the German national youth team. At the NFL Global Junior Championships , a tournament between a European youth selection against national teams from the United States, Canada and Japan and against a selection team from Mexico, he was spotted by the scouts of various colleges and decided on a football scholarship at the University of Houston . In 2009 he was selected in the second round in a total of 58th place by the New England Patriots . Before Vollmer, Tom Nütten was selected by an NFL team in the draft. He was born in the United States and only spent a few years of his childhood with his German mother in Oelde . He was drawn in the seventh round in 1995 by the Buffalo Bills and played his first NFL game in 1998 with the St. Louis Rams . Other German players who succeeded Vollmer in the NFL are Markus Kuhn , Björn Werner , Kasim Edebali and Mark Nzeocha . In the NFL Draft 2016 Moritz Böhringer was selected in the sixth round in 180th place by the Minnesota Vikings . He became the first player to be drafted directly from Europe into the NFL without having attended college.
There were also German players in the National Football League who were not drafted. The defensive end Constantin Ritzmann , who was elected three times Most Valuable Player of the NFL Global Junior Championships, signed in 2004 after graduating from college at the University of Tennessee a contract with the Buffalo Bills. However, he was seriously injured and joined the Atlanta Falcons in 2005 . Ritzmann played a game as the first German non- kicker . Horst Mühlmann and Uwe von Schamann played as German kickers for NFL teams and are still considered two of the best kickers of all time. Schamann held the record for the most extra point attempts in a season until 2007. In addition, as part of the NFL's International Practice Squad Program , there were many German players, such as offensive liner Samuel Gutekunst and defensive end Christian Mohr in training for professional teams, who, however, remained without commitment. This program was expanded in 2008 to 15 players per season, mostly around three to five Germans. It was discontinued in 2009.
Major football events in Germany
Germany has already hosted major football events several times, such as the IFAF World Cup , the American Football World Cup in 2003, the European Championship in Hamburg in 1989 and 2000 , in Hanau in 2001 and in the Rhine-Main area in 2003 . Most of the games at the World Cup were only attended by around 1,000 spectators. The American Football Association Germany continued to host the 2010 European Championship. The tournament was financially supported by the city of Frankfurt am Main, the state of Hesse and the Federal Republic of Germany. The opening and final games were played in the Commerzbank-Arena , other games took place in the Brentanobad stadium, German and other top games in the Frankfurter Volksbank Stadium . The opening and the final were broadcast worldwide on satellite television, and all other matches were broadcast online . Deutsche Sportfernsehen (DSF) held most of the broadcasting rights.
NFL games in Germany
Germany has hosted several games in the US professional league National Football League (NFL). As part of the American Bowl , Berlin hosted five preseason games in the Olympiastadion . The first American Bowl took place in 1990 between the Los Angeles Rams (now the St. Louis Rams) and the Kansas City Chiefs . The Rams won the game, which was to serve as advertising for the World League of American Football , which started the following year , in front of 55,429 spectators 19-3. The NFL continued to discuss other venues in Germany. Among other things, the Waldstadion (today Commerzbank-Arena) in Frankfurt am Main, the Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf and the Olympiastadion in Munich were proposed. Ultimately, however, the games in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 took place again in the sold-out Olympiastadion in Berlin.
Since 2006 there have been considerations to play a regular season game as part of the NFL International Series in Germany. The first regular season game outside of America was finally played at London's Wembley Stadium and sold out within a few hours. These successes led to at least one game per season in London until 2010. According to a poll on the NFL's official website, around 44% of those who voted wanted an NFL game in Frankfurt am Main and 34% in Berlin . Other options were, for example, Barcelona and Mexico City . Despite these polls, a game in Germany was ruled out in the near future, as the NFL required a minimum turnover of 20 million US dollars from the host, which would be difficult to raise in Germany due to insufficient media coverage of football and a lack of television contracts. In addition, there are no stadiums of the required size available in Germany, such as Wembley Stadium, which can seat 90,000 spectators. Many German stadiums are equipped with a plastic sheet that reduces the interior space of the stadiums. The stadiums are mainly used for soccer, which requires a smaller playing field than football. The required size of the playing field with a length of at least 120 yards is therefore not available.
regulate
The rules for German gaming are drawn up every year on the basis of the rules of the college sports association National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from the previous year and differ only slightly from those of the NCAA. One of the most noticeable changes concerns the playing time, which has been reduced from four times 15 to four times 12 minutes, so that the games are not too long and therefore more interesting for the audience. Since most sports fields in Germany do not have exactly a playing area with a length of 120 yards (109.728 meters ), one yard was defined as 1/120 of the entire playing field. The field goal rods may differ slightly from those prescribed in the United States 18 ft and 6 in different, since many teams simple extensions bolted to the goalpost of football goals, rather than buying a special field goal and set up. In addition, the home team is not required to provide the main referee with a microphone for announcements, and there is no need to set up a music box in leagues below the GFL.
In addition, Chapter 12 of the NCAA rules for instant replay is not part of the German rules.
Another rule change concerns the limitation of US and non-German players. Until 1982 five Americans were allowed per move and team, since 1986 there have only been two. Furthermore, teams are only allowed to have ten A players in their squad and only use six of them on the match day. A players are Americans, Mexicans, Canadians, and Japanese. These regulations were made to promote German football and to enable financially weaker clubs to join.
In July 2009, the Stade Regional Court revealed ambiguities in the federal game regulations. They mainly concerned the licensing for the national leagues, the legality of which has been questioned. The Magdeburg Virgin Guards had sued the former association Spielverbund Nord-Ost because they were denied promotion to the second division due to allegedly illegally deployed players. The association had banned some players from participating in matches because they submitted their player passports too late. Since this message did not reach the Virgin Guards, which was misleading, they had used the players and table points were deducted from them.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Inventory survey 2019. (PDF) German Olympic Sports Confederation, accessed on April 3, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Commerzbank-Arena.de History of the Commerzbank-Arena. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ JavelinaAthletics.com memories of the 1976 European tour (in English). Accessed on September 30, 2009 ( Memento from May 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ JavelinaAthletics.com Football Team 1976 (in English). Accessed October 9, 2016.
- ↑ Athleticenterprises.com ( Memento of October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Football history in Europe (in English). - Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ American Football: ... from kick-off to touchdown. P. 33.
- ↑ a b c American Football:… from kick-off to touchdown. P. 34.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Footballgeschichte 1979. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d e f g GFL.info ( Memento from September 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Deutsche Bowls. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d American Football:… from kick-off to touchdown. P. 35.
- ↑ AFVD.de history of the national team. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ GFL.info ( Memento of 30 December 2005 at the Internet Archive ) German Football League. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ American Football: ... from kick-off to touchdown. Pp. 36-37.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Annual Review 1983. Accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Review of the year 1987. Accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Ladiesbowl.de ( Memento from October 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) From 1986 to 1989. Accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Annual Review 1988. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Annual Review 1989. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ^ NFL.com ( Memento of May 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Historical NFL International Results (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ^ The current sport studio from October 12, 1985 with Ion Tiriac, as well as the American football teams of the Ansbach Grizzlies and Düsseldorf Panther .
- ↑ a b Huddle-Verlag.de review 1990. Accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ^ Geocities.com ( Memento November 2, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) The World League of American Football (in English).
- ↑ HSV Hamburg Blue Devils were first class for 14 years , Hamburger Abendblatt, August 4, 2011
- ↑ Annette R. Hofmann: Turnen and Sport, Waxmann Verlag, p. 229 [1]
- ↑ Hamburg Blue Devils - names, dates, facts , PDF file, p. 5
- ^ Tough fight for the football zone Germany. Europa League final: Hamburg Blue Devils versus Stockholm Nordic Vikings. In: http://www.abenblatt.de/ . Hamburger Abendblatt, September 16, 1994, archived from the original on February 3, 2015 ; accessed on February 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Record in the rain. Football: Blue Devils lost to Nordic Vikings 35:43. In: http://www.abendblatt.de/ . Hamburger Abendblatt, September 19, 1994, archived from the original on February 3, 2015 ; accessed on February 19, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Spiegel.de Ralf Kleinmann “Player of the Week”. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Annual Review 1991. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Cologne-Crocodiles.de ( Memento from July 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) History of the Cologne Crocodiles. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Annual Review 1994. Accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Huddle No. 22 from June 1, 1995. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ a b Kenn.com ( Memento of March 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) NFL Europe audience figures (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ FirePlanet.de ( Memento from August 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Run On Galaxy Bus Tickets - Part 2! Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ^ NFL.com History of the NFL - 1991-2000 (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ NFL.com World Bowl History. Accessed on September 30, 2009 ( Memento from February 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Huddle-verlag.de Huddle No. 5 from February 2, 1995. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Huddle No. 27 from July 6, 1995. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ^ Braunschweig-Lions.de ( Memento from March 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Lions GFL team. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Huddle No. 17 of April 27, 1995. Accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Huddle No. 28 of July 13, 1995. Accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ a b EFAF.de The final: Eurobowl (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Huddle No. 41 from October 14, 1999. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ HamburgBlueDevils.eu History of the Hamburg Blue Devils. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ NFL.com NFL Europe will be closed (in English). Accessed October 9, 2016.
- ↑ NFL.com The passing of NFL Europe shouldn't be taken lightly (in English). Accessed October 9, 2016.
- ↑ http://www.gfl.org/text.php?Inhalt=newsmeldung&ID=4338 phi-dead link | url = http: //www.gfl.org/text.php? Content = news report & ID = 4338 | date = 2018 -12 | archivebot = 2018-12-03 22:34:27 InternetArchiveBot}} (link not available)
- ↑ a b GFL.info ( Memento from September 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) 180,000 TV viewers at Rapidshare German Bowl XXX on DSF. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ SPOX.com Successful debut for Patriots rookie Vollmer, accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Ladiesbowl.de ( Memento from August 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Reminder: Organization of the Ladies Bowl and German Flag Bowl. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Big football stage returns to Frankfurt. AFVD, November 13, 2018, accessed December 4, 2018 .
- ↑ Braunschweig-Lions.de ( Memento from September 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Ex-Lions in the final. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ a b Juniorbowl.com History of the Junior Bowl. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ LadiesBowl.de ( Memento from February 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Nuremberg Hurricanes are in the LadiesBowl 2009! Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Football-Aktuell.de New partners for the Ladiesbowl. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ 1992 - Ladies Bowl I ( memento of July 9, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) 1992 - Ladies Bowl I. Accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD.de American Football Association Germany. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD.de (PDF; 179 kB) Relegation to the 2nd Bundesliga / GFL2. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Football-Aktuell.de promotion / relegation remains unchanged in 2009. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ GFL.info ( Memento from September 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) GFL licensing process 2004. Accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ LadiesBowl.de ( Memento from October 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) 2007 - year one as a licensing league. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ LadiesBowl.de ( Memento from October 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) 2008 - Construction for the future. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ LadiesBowl.de ( Memento of 18 May 2007 at the Internet Archive ) teams. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ LadiesBowl.de ( Memento from October 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Youth work. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD.de youth country tournament 2009 in Hamm / Westphalia. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD: Youth country tournament in Oldenburg - AFVD. In: afvd.de. Retrieved October 27, 2019 (German).
- ↑ Unibowl.de ( Memento from August 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) History of the UniBowl. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Guerrilleros.de ( Memento from February 9, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) History of the Guerrilleros. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD.de University selection GERmaniacs. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ FAZ.net Last Chance Germany. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Trainer Team (2010) ( Memento from February 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Renaud traded to Blue Bombers ( Memento from October 16, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) Renaud traded to the Blue Bombers (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ LeopardAthletics.com Jason Carpenter: Playing Football in Europe (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ football-aktuell.de GFL games. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ HamburgBlueDevils.eu History of the Hamburg Blue Devils. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Abendblatt.de Hell on the outskirts. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Football-Aktuell.de schedule 6. Liga NRW. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Football-Aktuell.de First interim results of the 2009 GFL audience figures published. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Baltic-Hurricanes.de Kiel in a state of emergency - Canes at Kiel Week. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Life in Time Lapse ( Memento from October 16, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) Life in Time Lapse. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ↑ a b GFL.info ( Memento from November 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Kick off - The GFL Football Magazine. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ German-Football-Partners.de ( Memento of 23 September 2005 at the Internet Archive ) television. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ DWDL.de 570,000 viewers followed the "Super Bowl" at night. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AllesAusserSport.de ARD and the Super Bowl: balancing act. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Handelsblatt.de The so-called Super Bowl. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Welt.de World Bowl - American football more and more popular. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ FAZ.net ( Memento from February 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) The NFL Europe has little chance of survival. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de media data 2009. Accessed on September 30, 2009. ZIP archive; 66 kB.
- ↑ GFL-TV.de GFL-TV. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ http://de.eurosport.yahoo.com/090216/13/qu7r.html (link not available)
- ↑ AFVD.de flag football national team. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD.de national team. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ IFAF.info IFAF Senior World Championship (in English). Accessed on September 30, 2009 ( Memento from October 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ AFVD.de Worldgames: German national football team wins gold. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD.de Sighting the women's national team on October 24th, 2009 in Cologne. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD.de youth national team, accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD.de AFVD: Junior National Team successfully accessed on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ football-aktuell.de Team Germany will be fifth access on September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Chron.com Germany is a path for NFL candidates (English speaking). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ EFAF.de TOP 20 (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ EFAF.de The European tournament (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ NGZ-online.de Nobody can get past the giant. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Björn Goldmann: Moritz Böhringer beckons an NFL contract thanks to an amateur video. In: WAZ. Retrieved May 1, 2016 .
- ↑ NFL-GJC.com ( Memento of 22 March 2008 at the Internet Archive ) GJC history. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ↑ KFFL.com Constantin Ritzmann, DL, a free agent. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- Jump up ↑ http://www.scenta.co.uk/sport/football/cit/1701440/which-footballers-have-gone-on-to-make-it-big-in-the-nfl.htm phis- dead link | url = http: //www.scenta.co.uk/sport/football/cit/1701440/which-footballers-have-gone-on-to-make-it-big-in-the-nfl.htm | date = 2018-12 | archivebot = 2018-12-03 22:34:27 InternetArchiveBot}} (link not available)
- ^ DatabaseFootball.com ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Uwe Von Schamann. (English speaking). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ ESPN.com ( Memento from September 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) International Practice Squad player selected (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ NFL.com NFL expands International Practice Squad Program (English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ AFVD.de EFAF awards European championships to Germany. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ http://de.eurosport.yahoo.com/29092008/30/football-em-2010-frankfurt-main.html (link not available)
- ↑ http://www.gfl.org/text.php?Inhalt=newsmeldung&ID=4338 phi-dead link | url = http: //www.gfl.org/text.php? Content = news report & ID = 4338 | date = 2018 -12 | archivebot = 2018-12-03 22:34:27 InternetArchiveBot}} (link not available)
- ↑ National Football League: 2006 NFL Record & Fact Book (Official National Football League Record and Fact Book) . Sports Illustrated, ISBN 1-933405-32-5 , p. 616.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Footballgeschichte 1990. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ^ NFL.com History of the NFL: 1981–1990 (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Huddle-Verlag.de Huddle 1993/20. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ NFL.com ( Memento from May 30, 2007 on the Internet Archive ) NFL game in London attracts fans (in English). Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Handelsblatt.de The NFL says goodbye to Germany. Accessed September 30, 2009.
- ↑ http://www.football-fan.de/2009/index.php?view=article&catid=15:german-football-league&id=465:regelanpassungen-der-ncaa-fuer-deutschland&format=pdf&option=com_content&Itemid=84 (Link not available)
- ↑ Football-Aktuell.de The day after: Stade and possible consequences for football. Accessed September 30, 2009.
literature
- Eberhard Bowy, Wolfram Knitter, Marcus Rosenstein: American Football. ... from kick-off to touchdown . 2nd Edition. Weinmann, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-87892-054-7 .
- Margit Brinke, Peter Kränzle: American Football. Game idea and rules, teams and actors, the scene in Germany and the USA. With a detailed glossary . 3. Edition. Copress Sport, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7679-0984-7 .
