The Cologne Centurions were an

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 ...

team that played in NFL Europe. The Centurions began competing in the league in the 2004 season, having replaced the defunct Barcelona Dragons. They played their home games at RheinEnergieStadion in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. The Centurions' first-ever game was against local rival

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 ...

. Cologne lost 25–26. The Centurions' inaugural season finished with a 4–6 record. On 21 February 2006, the Centurions named David Duggan as their new head coach. He replaced Darryl Sims, who was on the verge of his first season in the position but instead was pursuing an opportunity in the NFL.

Peter Vaas Peter Vaas (born April 26, 1952) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Allegheny College from 1986 to 1989 and at the College of the Holy Cross from 1992 to 1995, compiling a career college footba ...

, a two-time

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 ...

-winning coach with the

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. 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 ...

, had occupied the job in the team's first two seasons. The Centurions were the only NFL Europe team that never won a World Bowl. 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

References

External links

The Football Database
{{NFLE NFL Europe (WLAF) teams Centurions Defunct American football teams in Germany American football teams established in 2004 American football teams disestablished in 2007 2004 establishments in Germany 2007 disestablishments in Germany