The Berlin Thunder were a 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 wit ...

team in

NFL Europe 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 f ...

History

The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games from 1999 to 2002 were played at

Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark The Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the western part of the locality of Prenzlauer Berg in the borough of Pankow in Berlin. The sports complex covers an area of approximately 22 hectares and compr ...

and one game in 2006. Olympiastadion was the home stadium from 2003 to 2007. They were the second team in league history to use the Thunder name, following the Orlando Thunder from 1991 to 1992. The Thunder won the

World Bowl The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The game was conceived as the final of the NFL-r ...

3 times:

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

(a year that they went 9–1). They also made it to the World Bowl in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

but were defeated by the

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 ...

21–27. Two Berlin

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

s, Rohan Davey (2004) and Dave Ragone (2005), were named NFL Europe Offensive Most Valuable Players.

Linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

Rich Scanlon (2005) was named NFL Europe Defensive MVP. In 2006, the Thunder had three players earn All-NFL Europe honors: guard Chad Beasley and

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

Anthony Floyd earned all-league honors at their respective positions and German

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is p ...

Christian Mohr was honored as the national player on the defensive all-league team. On 1 April 2006, the Thunder recorded their first tie in franchise history. Trailing the Hamburg Sea Devils 17–0 at halftime, the Thunder erased their deficit to tie it up, going into overtime in which neither team could come up with a point. This was only the second tie in the history of NFL Europe. The previous tie came in the 1992 season between the Birmingham Fire and the London Monarchs, also 17-17. An unrelated team of the same name is to play in the inaugural 2021 season of the new

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a professional American football league. The league (as of the 2023 season) consists of 17 teams located in Germany, Poland, Spain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic and France, with p ...

Season-by-season

Head coaches

Notable players

Richard Adjei Richard Adjei (30 January 1983 – 26 October 2020) was a German bobsledder who competed since 2007. He was also an American football linebacker. Bobsleigh career His first World Cup event at Königssee, Germany earned him a win in the two-man ...

– LB (2007) * David Akers – K (1999) * Chris Barclay – RB (2007) *

Lang Campbell Lang Campbell (born September 25, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played in the Arena Football League. He was originally signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at Willia ...

– QB (2005) * Travis Lulay – QB (2007) * Rohan Davey – QB (2004) * Anthony Floyd – S (2005) *

Chas Gessner Chas Gessner (born August 17, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver. He was signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2003 to begin his NFL career and earned a Super Bowl ring in his first year as a member of t ...

– S (2004) * Ben Hamilton – C (2002) * Madre Hill – RB (2001) *

Israel Idonije Israel Idonije (born November 17, 1980) is a retired Nigerian-Canadian defensive end in the National Football League and actor. Idonije was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cleveland Browns out of the University of Manitoba. A draft pi ...

– DE (2004) * Dave Ragone – QB (2005) *

Brian Simnjanovski Brian Simnjanovski (May 29, 1981 – May 10, 2009) was a former NFL Europe punter for the Berlin Thunder, an American football team. High School Years Simnjanovski attended Escondido High School and was a student and a letterman in football ...

– P/K (2005) * Brian Waters – C/OG (2000) *

Phil Stambaugh Philip Michael Stambaugh (born August 10, 1978) is an American football coach and former quarterback. He is the current head coach for Notre Dame High School in Easton, Pennsylvania. He played college football for Lehigh. After going undrafted ...

– QB (2003) *

Ahmad Hawkins Ahmad Hawkins (born December 10, 1978) is a former American football defensive back. He played college football at Virginia. He was signed by the Colorado Crush as a street free agent in 2003. Hawkins also played for the Berlin Thunder, Nashvi ...

– CB (2002) * Tony Pape – G (2005)

References

{{NFLE Defunct American football teams in Germany NFL Europe (WLAF) teams Sport in Berlin American football teams established in 1999 American football teams disestablished in 2007 1999 establishments in Germany 2007 disestablishments in Germany