The Paderborn Dolphins 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 with ...

team from

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

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 club's greatest success has been promotion, in 1997, 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 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''Ameri ...

, where it played for two seasons until 1999. After winning the GFL 2 North in 2022, the Dolphins will return to the top level of Germany in 2023 the

for the first time since 1999.

History

The Dolphins entered league football in 1992 when they joined the tier-four Verbandsliga. The club spent two seasons at this level before earning promotion to the

Regionalliga The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the four ...

, where it played until 1995. After promotion from the Regionalliga to the 2nd Bundesliga the Dolphins finished sixth in the league in 1996 before winning its division in 1997 led by USA Import quarterback Bradly Strohm. In the promotion round the club defeated Bundesliga foundation club

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 Bowl ...

, ending the latter's nineteen-season stint in the league since 1979. In the Bundesliga the Dolphins' sole victory in the 1998 season came away at the

Stuttgart Scorpions The Stuttgart Scorpions are an American football team from Stuttgart, Germany. The club's greatest success came in 2007, when it reached the German Bowl but lost to the Braunschweig Lions. History The Stuttgart Scorpions were formed in December ...

in an interconference match but the club defended its league place in the relegation round against 2. Bundesliga club

Berlin Rebels The Berlin Rebels are an American football team from Berlin, Germany. The team is playing in the German Football League, the highest level of American football in Germany. In the most recent seasons the Rebels managed to qualify for the play-offs ...

. The season after, playing as AFC Paderborn, the club's results were stricken from the table after it found itself unable to complete its fixtures and was consequently relegated. The club, again as the Dolphins, returned to the tier-three Regionalliga from 2000 onwards, playing the next three seasons at that level. At the end of the 2002 season it withdrew from league football and restarted again in the Verbandsliga in 2004. Two unbeaten seasons in 2004 and 2005 took the team back to the Regionalliga, where it played for the next nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It won league championships at this level in 2008 and 2014, remaining unbeaten on both occasions. In 2008 it missed out on promotion when it lost to the

Hildesheim Invaders The Hildesheim Invaders are an American football team from Hildesheim, Germany. The club's greatest success has been promotion to the American football Bundesliga, now the German Football League, in 1989 where it played for two seasons until 1991 ...

in the promotion round but, in 2014, a draw against the Osnabrück Tigers followed by victory over the

Potsdam Royals The Potsdam Royals are an American football team from Potsdam, Germany. The club's greatest achievement is winning the championship in the last Eurobowl (2019) against the Amsterdam Crusaders just a year after they entered the German Football Lea ...

took the club back to the second tier after a fourteen-year absence. In 2015, the team finished third in the

German Football League 2 The German Football League 2 (GFL2) is the second tier of American football in Germany, below the German Football League. Until 2007, the league was known as the ''2. Bundesliga''. League structure The ''GFL2'', formerly the ''2. Bundesliga'', wh ...

, the former 2nd Bundesliga.

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: (2) 1998–1999 * 2. Bundesliga ** Northern division champions: 1997, 2022

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 23 September 20153. Liga (Regionalliga) tables & results
football-aktuell.de, accessed: 23 September 2015 * RR = Relegation round * PR = Promotion round * QF = Quarter finals * SF = Semi finals

References

External links

*
Official website
*
German Football League official website
*
Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany {{DEFAULTSORT:Paderborn Dolphins American football teams in Germany German Football League teams American football teams established in 1991 1991 establishments in Germany

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...