The 1995

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally ...

season was the third season of the professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

league organized by the NFL. It was the league's first season with six teams based only in Europe. Returning from a 2-year hiatus after the 1992 WLAF season, the league had dropped its seven North American teams, with the three existing teams (the Frankfurt Galaxy,

London Monarchs The London Monarchs were a professional American football team in NFL Europe and its predecessor league, the World League of American Football (WLAF). The Monarchs played their final season in 1998 as the England Monarchs. In 1999, they were r ...

and Barcelona Dragons) joined by three new franchises (the

Rhein Fire Rhein may refer to: Places * Rhine, a major river in Europe (german: Rhein, link=no) * Rhein, a village in the municipality of Morsbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Rhein (Ostpreussen), a former name of the town Ryn in Poland Ships * SM ...

, Scottish Claymores and

Amsterdam Admirals The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, playing in the NFL Europe. History The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, to ...

). The

World Bowl '95 World Bowl '95 (also referred to as World Bowl III) was the third championship game of the World League of American Football (WLAF), and the final game of the 1995 WLAF season. It was the first World Bowl to be played since World Bowl '92, after w ...

title game was won by Frankfurt, 26–22 over Amsterdam.

Season

The top draft choice was Shaumbe Wright-Fair, who was picked by the

. The Scottish Claymores, after a 5–0 record in the preseason, surprisingly fired their head coach,

Larry Kuharich Joseph Lawrence "Lary" Kuharich Jr. (December 20, 1945 – November 13, 2016) was an American football coach who was most recently the offensive coordinator of the Arena Football League's Columbus Destroyers. He was the son of former Notre Dame F ...

, five days before their WLAF kickoff because "his coaching philosophy did not mesh with the make-up of the team". Frankfurt's road to the World Bowl included a 27–7 win at London on May 15. The Claymores' hopes of making the World Bowl were dashed with a week 6 defeat by Rhein 33–27 in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

. The Claymores ended their inaugural season with a 2–8 record.

World Bowl '95

Frankfurt beat Amsterdam 26–22 at

Amsterdam Olympic Stadium The Olympic Stadium (Dutch: ''Olympisch Stadion'', ) is a sporting venue which was used as the main stadium for the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The venue is currently used mostly for athletics, other sports events and concerts. When comp ...

. The game was played on Saturday, June 17, 1995. The match-up was between the 6–4 Frankfurt Galaxy and the 9–1

. 23,847 fans witnessed the Galaxy pull off an upset en route to a 26–22 victory and their first ever World Bowl title. Quarterback

Paul Justin Paul Donald Justin (born May 19, 1968) is a former quarterback in the National Football League for the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals and the St. Louis Rams. Prior to his time in the NFL, he was the starting quarterback for the Arizona R ...

earned

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

honors by completing 18 of 36 attempts for 308 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. In the regular season the Admirals had won the teams' first meeting 14–12 in Amsterdam, while the Galaxy had taken the second meeting 28–13 in Frankfurt.

References

NFL Europe (WLAF) seasons 1995 in American football {{Americanfootball-season-stub