The Belgian American Football League (BAFL) is a sports league for

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 with ...

in Belgium founded in 1987. The league currently consists of 18 teams from Belgian cities and regions and one team from Luxembourg. The league is divided into two conferences—the

Flemish American Football League The Flemish American Football League (FAFL) is one of the two conferences of the Belgian Football League (BFL). It consists of teams from the Flemish Community, whereas the Ligue Francophone de Football Americain de Belgique (LFFAB) consists of ...

(FAFL) and

Ligue Francophone de Football Americain de Belgique The Ligue Francophone de Football Americain de Belgique (LFFAB) is one of the two conferences of the Belgian Football League (BFL). It consists of teams from the French Community of Belgium, French Community, whereas the Flemish American Football ...

(LFFAB). At the end of each regular season, three teams from each conference play in the BFL playoffs, a six-team single-elimination tournament that culminates with the championship game, known as the

Belgian Bowl In American football, the Belgian Bowl is the championship game of the Belgian Football League (BFL). At the end of each regular season, three teams from each conference play in the BFL playoffs, a six-team single-elimination tournament that culmin ...

Seasons

Football rules

The BFL uses the American college football rules:
2013/2014 NCAA Rulebook
. These differ from the popular professional league of the United States, the NFL. The

officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...

are organised in th
Belgian american football officials committee (BAFOC)

The conferences

The BFL is divided into a Dutch-speaking conference and a French-speaking conference, based on the northern

Flemish Community The Flemish Community ( nl, Vlaamse Gemeenschap ; french: Communauté flamande ; german: Flämische Gemeinschaft ) is one of the three institutional communities of Belgium, established by the Belgian constitution and having legal responsibilitie ...

and the southern

French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (french: Communauté française; ) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (french: Fédé ...

. These two communities intermingle in the territory of Brussels, two teams based in Brussels play in the Dutch (FAFL) and one team plays in the French (LFFAB). The LFFAB has one team from

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, the Steelers. The conferences are important for the championship game as they determine who will participate in the play-offs. Teams only play interconference games in the play-offs.

Teams

There are 18 BFL teams. The La Louvière Wolves are on hold. New teams must be located 20 km from an existing team. This rule does not apply for Brussels.

Team locations

BFL Records

* Most national championships: ** 8 West Flanders Tribes ''(2000, 2001, 2006-2011)'' * Most appearances in a national championship: ** 12 Brussels Black Angels ''(1996-1998, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2015-2018)'' * Most consecutive national championships: ** 6 West Flanders Tribes ''(2006-2011)'' * Most consecutive appearances in a national championship: ** 6 West Flanders Tribes ''(2006-2011)'' * Most consecutive appearances in the playoffs: ** 10 Brussels Black Angels ''(2001-2011)'' * Most consecutive wins: ** 50 West Flanders Tribes ''(27 February 2007 - 4 June 2011)'' * Longest streak no losses: ** 53 West Flanders Tribes ''(21 May 2006 - 4 June 2011)'' * Most consecutive perfect seasons: ** 4 West Flanders Tribes ''(2008-2011)'' * Most consecutive unbeaten seasons: ** 5 West Flanders Tribes ''(2007-2011)''

References

External links

*
Official FAFL website
*
Official LFFAB website

Official BAFOC website

Dale's FAFL thoughts - FAFL Blog
{{International American football American football in Belgium American football leagues in Europe 1987 establishments in Belgium Sports leagues established in 1987