The Dortmund Giants are 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 from Dortmund,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The official name of the club is 1. Dortmunder Footballclub Dortmund 1980 "Giants" e.V.. The club's greatest success has been promotion to the American football Bundesliga, now the

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''American-Football-Bundesliga'' to ''German Foot ...

, in 1980 and 1984 where it played for 10 seasons until 1993. In this era it qualified for the play-offs on five occasions, advancing to the semi-finals in 1989.Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 28 September 2015

History

Established on 22 May 1980 the Dortmund Giants were admitted to the American football Bundesliga the year after. The club dropped down to the 2. Bundesliga for the following season and spend three years there before a division title took it back to the Bundesliga. The Giants spend the next nine seasons in the top tier, experiencing their most successful era from 1986 to 1990 when the club qualified for the play-offs each season. It advanced as far as the semi-finals 1989 after victories over the

Cologne Crocodiles The Cologne Crocodiles are an American football team from Cologne, Germany. The club's greatest success came in 2000, when it won the German Bowl for the first and, so far, only time. Prior to this, the club had made five losing appearances in t ...

and Noris Rams before losing to eventual champions

Berlin Adler The Berlin Adler ( en, Berlin Eagles) is an American football club based in Berlin, Germany. The club is one of the most successful clubs in the sport in Germany, having won six German Bowls as well as a ten ''Ladies Bowls'' and five ''Junior Bow ...

. The Giants declined from there, finishing at the bottom end of the northern division after this and eventually being relegated in 1993. The club spent the 1994 season in the 2. Bundesliga before dropping for two seasons to the tier three

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

. Five more 2. Bundesliga seasons followed from 1997 to 2001, the final one in a combined team with the Bochum Cadets as the Dortmund B1 Giants. After a season below expectation the cooperation with Bochum was discontinued and the Giants withdrew to the tier five Verbandsliga. It won promotion to the Oberliga in its first year there and fluctuated for the next seven seasons between the Oberliga and Regionalliga. After a five-season spell in the Regionalliga the club finished the 2014 season without a win and had to return to the Oberliga once more.Oberliga tables & results
football-aktueell.de, accessed: 28 September 2015

Honours

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

** League membership: (10) 1981, 1985–1993 ** Play-off qualification: (5) 1986–1990 *

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

** Northern Division champions: (1) 1984

References

External links

Official website

German Football League official website

Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany {{DEFAULTSORT:Dortmund Giants American football teams in Germany German Football League teams American football teams established in 1980 1980 establishments in West Germany

Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...