American football Bundesliga
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 ...
season was the first edition of the top-level
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 ...
competition in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
.
In the inaugural season six clubs competed in the league. At the end of the regular season the
Frankfurter Löwen
The Frankfurter Löwen ( en, Frankfurt Lions) were an American football team from Frankfurt, Germany.
The ''Löwen'' were the first American football club to be formed in Germany.German Bowl
The German Bowl is the annual national championship game in the sport of American football in Germany. It is contested by the two best teams of the German Football League.
The New Yorker Lions, from Braunschweig, are the record winners of the Ger ...
against the
Ansbach Grizzlies
The Ansbach Grizzlies are an American football team based in Ansbach, Germany. The club, together with the Düsseldorf Panther and the Munich Cowboys, is one of the oldest in Germany. The Grizzlies were a dominating force in the game during the fir ...
and won 14–8.List of German Bowls GFL website, accessed: 23 September 2015
Modus
During the regular season each club played all other clubs home and away. The best two teams after the regular season then contested the German Bowl.Historic American football tables & results from Germany football-history.de, accessed: 15 September 2015
Season overview
The formation of the league dates back to a German TV interview with Alexander Sperber, son of a
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
soldier and German mother, which created enough interest to form a number of teams and the league in March 1979.
The league's opening game was held on 4 August 1979 in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
when the
Düsseldorf Panther
The Düsseldorf Panther are an American football team from Düsseldorf, Germany. The club is the oldest extant American football club in Europe, having been formed on 1 May 1978.Frankfurter Löwen
The Frankfurter Löwen ( en, Frankfurt Lions) were an American football team from Frankfurt, Germany.
The ''Löwen'' were the first American football club to be formed in Germany.Geschichte AFVD website: History, accessed: 27 September 2015
The regular season saw the Frankfurter Löwen win all their nine-season games, the tenth game, the home game against the Berlin Bären having been cancelled. Behind Frankfurt the
Ansbach Grizzlies
The Ansbach Grizzlies are an American football team based in Ansbach, Germany. The club, together with the Düsseldorf Panther and the Munich Cowboys, is one of the oldest in Germany. The Grizzlies were a dominating force in the game during the fir ...
finished runners-up, undefeated by the other four teams but unable to overcome the Löwen . At the end of the table the Düsseldorf Panther remained winless all season. In the inaugural German Bowl, held in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
on 10 November 1979, the Löwen defeated Ansbach once more to take out the first-ever German championship.
League table
The league table of the American football Bundesliga:
Key
Aftermath
The 1979 season remained the only season of the American football Bundesliga, renamed to German Football League in 1999, to be played in single-division format. From 1980 onwards the league was subdivided into regional divisions, predominantly north and south.
The Frankfurter Löwen continued their dominance in 1980, winning another title but then declined and folded in 1985. The Ansbach Grizzlies went on to play in each of the first eight German Bowls, winning the 1981, 1982 and 1985 editions. The club declined from there, dropped out of the league in 1990 and never returned to the highest level of play. The Bremerhaven Seahawks and Düsseldorf Panther briefly left the league after the 1979 season to join a rival competition but returned soon after. The Seahawks dropped out of the league in 1986 and, like Ansbach, never returned. The Panther, alongside the Berlin Bären, soon renamed to Berlin Adler, and the Munich Cowboys became more permanent features of the league, dropping out of the league on occasions but still spending more seasons in the league than any other club and winning thirteen German Bowls between them.
Afb AFB may refer to:
* Armed Forces Bank, a US-based financial institution for military members and families
* Armed Forces Bikers, a UK-based motorcycle charity to assist former members of the armed forces
* Acid-fast bacilli
* Air Force Base
* Ai ...
Afb AFB may refer to:
* Armed Forces Bank, a US-based financial institution for military members and families
* Armed Forces Bikers, a UK-based motorcycle charity to assist former members of the armed forces
* Acid-fast bacilli
* Air Force Base
* Ai ...