The German Junior Bowl, usually only referred to as ''Junior Bowl'', is the annual national championship game for junior teams in the sport of
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 ...
in
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 ...
. It is contested by the two best teams of the GFL Juniors.
It is the second-oldest still existing bowl game in Germany, after the
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 ...
, dating back to 1982. Record winners are 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.Bowls GFL website, accessed: 26 January 2011
History
The first edition of the Junior Bowl was held in 1982 and became a recognised national championship in the following year. Until 2000, regional championships were held rather than a national league. The regional champions then participated in the play-offs to determine the national champion.
In 2001, the GFL Juniors was introduced. The league consisted, for the most part of its existence, of twelve teams, split into three regional divisions, north, central and south, with four teams each. The best eight clubs then took part in the play-offs to determine the two teams that will play in the Junior Bowl.
Like Germany's elite league, 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 ...
, the GFL Juniors will be expanded for the 2011 season and play with four regional divisions of five teams each. However, the new western division will play with only four clubs as the
Langenfeld Longhorns Langenfeld may refer to the following places in Germany:
* Langenfeld, Bavaria, in the Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim district of Mittelfranken, Bavaria
* Langenfeld, Mayen-Koblenz, in the Mayen-Koblenz district of Rhineland-Palatinate
* Langenfel ...
have withdrawn from the league. In 2012, the divisions will then expand to six teams each, taking the number of elite level junior clubs to 24.Spielplan für die erweiterte GFL Juniors veröffentlicht GFL Juniors website, published: 22 December 2010, accessed: 26 January 2011