The Stuttgart Surge 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 based in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

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 ...

. They play in the

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a professional sports#American football, professional American football sports league, league. The league (as of the 2023 season) consists of 17 teams located in Germany, Poland, Spain, Austria, Italy, S ...

(ELF) as part of the league's South division. The team plays its home games at the Gazi Stadium which is currently the oldest sports stadium in Germany still in use.

Franchise history

The Stuttgart

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

is one of the eight founding members of the European League of Football (ELF), established in 2020. Initially, the franchise was supposed to start as the Stuttgart Scorpions, adopting the name of Stuttgart's

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 ...

(GFL) team. Since the member's assembly of the ''Stuttgart Scorpions'' decided to disallow the use of the name, the team formed as ''Stuttgart Surge'' reviving the

World League of American Football 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 ...

(WLAF) "Surge" franchise of the 1992 World Bowl champion

Sacramento Surge The Sacramento Surge was a professional American football team that played in the World League of American Football (WLAF) in 1991 and 1992. The team played its first season at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, and the second season in Hornet Stad ...

. The World League of American Football was later renamed the

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 ...

. The label ''Surge'' was picked over the name ''Stallions'' in compliance of the former 1980s and 1990s American football team

Stuttgart Stallions Stuttgart (; Swabian German, Swabian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fe ...

and determines the design of the new club logo and ensign. The franchise is operated by the American Football Club Stuttgart GmbH, whose

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Timo Franke previously worked as gameday manager for the Stuttgart Scorpions. Martin Hanselmann, the former coach of Germany's national American football team was signed as

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

in 2021. The team played their first game in the new league against the

Barcelona Dragons (ELF) The Barcelona Dragons are an American football team based in Reus, Spain, that plays in the European League of Football (ELF). History On 11 January 2021, it was announced that a new franchise in Barcelona will be one of the eight teams to pla ...

on June 19, 2021, with a 17–21 victory. In their week 2 loss to Frankfurt Galaxy starting Quarterback Jacob Wright was ejected for using a racially charged insult against an opponent for which he was ultimately cut from Stuttgart Surge and banned from playing for any ELF team for the ongoing 2021 season. The new Quarterback Aaron Ellis was presented ahead of the week 3 matchup against

Berlin Thunder (ELF) The Berlin Thunder are an American football team in Berlin, Germany. They play in the European League of Football (ELF) northern conference. History On 22 March 2021, the Berlin Thunder were announced as one of the eight teams to play in the ...

. After two consecutive losses during the end of the season, the team finished last in the South division and did not qualify for the playoffs. The front office and owner structure changed significantly in preparation for the

2022 European League of Football season The 2022 ELF season is the second season of the European League of Football, a professional American football league based in Europe. Twelve teams from five different countries will participate. The 2022 season started on June 4, 2022, and will c ...

. Former general manager Timo Franke handed the office over to Suni Musa, but staying in the organisation as head of sales and sponsoring. On February 4, 2022, it was revealed that

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

fullback and Stuttgart native

Jakob Johnson Jakob Elijah Johnson ( ; born 15 December 1994) is a German professional American football fullback for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tennessee and signed with the New England Patriot ...

will become co-owner of the franchise.

Season-by-season

Logos

With the presentation of the new team name in 2021, the franchise unveiled two logos for their first season. The design of the ''major'' logo uses the form of the

Stuttgart TV tower Fernsehturm Stuttgart ( en, Stuttgart TV Tower) is a telecommunications tower in Stuttgart, Germany. It was the first telecommunications tower in the world constructed from reinforced concrete, and it is the prototype for many such towers world ...

in the team colors yellow and blue with the tower shaft and the antenna depicting a stylized lightning bolt. The tower basket features the team name in white on a dark ground. The ''minor'' logo just shows a stylized lightning bolt in yellow pointing to the right and features optionally the team name or a multiangled line, both in a dark color.

Roster

Staff

References

External links

Official website
{{Stuttgart Surge American football teams in Germany Sport in Stuttgart European League of Football teams 2021 establishments in Germany American football teams established in 2021