The New Yorker Lions 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

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to 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 ...

. Until late 2010, the team was known as the Braunschweig Lions.NEW YORKER wird neuer Namensgeber der Lions
www.newyorker-lions.de, published: 20 March 2011, accessed: 31 March 2011 Under this name, the Lions became the most successful American football club in Germany, winning seven

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 ...

s as well as two

Eurobowl The Eurobowl was the championship final game of a tournament style playoff to determine the champion of all of the American football leagues in Europe. The tournament featured the top or champion clubs from each countries top league that was cal ...

s. From 1997 to 2008, the team played in twelve consecutive German Bowls. After a number of less successful years the club won four more German titles from 2013 to 2016 as well as four more Eurobowls from 2015 to 2018.

History

The Braunschweig Lions were formed in 1987 and the new team entered the tier-three ''

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regional ...

'' for that season, where it came third. The Lions were nevertheless promoted to the ''2nd Bundesliga'', now the

German Football League 2 The German Football League 2 (GFL2) is the second tier 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 ...

, for the following season and spent the next six years at this level. The team was never outstanding at this level for the first five years, only finishing once with a percentage above 0.500 in this era. In 1993, the Lions finally managed to win their division and earn 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 ...

. The team performed well at this level in its first season there, finishing fourth and qualifying for the play-offs, where they were knocked-out in the quarter-finals. The following season, 1995, saw the club miss the play-offs but in 1996 they returned and reached the semi-finals, losing to the

Hamburg Blue Devils The Hamburg Blue Devils are an American football team in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded in 1992. The Blue Devils are one of the most successful American football clubs in Germany, having won four German Bowls as well as three Eurobowls. Durin ...

and beginning what was to become a strong football rivalry in the following decade. The year 1997 saw the beginning of the golden era of the Braunschweig Lions and the most successful era of any American football club in Germany to date. The Lions were to play in every one of the next twelve German Bowls. The club won the first three of those, the first one against 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 title number two and three against the Hamburg Blue Devils, the latest in front of a record crowd of over 30,000 in Hamburg. That year, the Lions also took out the

, once more playing a final against the Blue Devils there, too. The next five seasons, the Lions were to lose five German Bowls in a row. The 2000 edition saw revenge for the Cologne Crocodiles, the following three were all lost to the Blue Devils. The fifth and final loss came to the

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 ...

. In this era, the only title the club did manage to win was another Eurobowl in 2003. The Lions then once more turned fortunes around and managed to set a new record by winning the next four German Bowls in a row. In the four finals, they faced four different opponents. In 2005, the Blue Devils were their Bowl opponent for a sixth time, in 2006 and 2007, it had to face opposition from the southern division, the

Marburg Mercenaries The Marburg Mercenaries are an American football team from Marburg, Germany. Internationally, the club's greatest success came in 2005, when it won the EFAF Cup, followed by a losing appearance in the Eurobowl in 2007. Domestically, the team's ...

and the Stuttgart Scorpions, while the final victory came against the

Kiel Baltic Hurricanes The Kiel Baltic Hurricanes are an American football team based in Kiel, Germany. The club has been, of recent, a strong force in the sport in Germany, playing in five consecutive German Bowls from 2008 to 2012, losing the first two, winning the t ...

in 2008. After winning those four consecutive titles, they faced drastic restructuring in 2009 and did therefore not qualify for the play-offs at all, but returned in 2010, when they lost to the Marburg Mercenaries in the quarter finals. In March 2011, the club announced that the team would carry a new name for the 2011 season. Their name is shared with the fashion label

NewYorker New Yorker, legally ''New Yorker Group Services International GmbH & Co.KG'', is a German clothing retailer headquartered in Braunschweig. In 1971 the first New Yorker store was opened in Flensburg. In December 2006, the company won the first ...

, a sponsor of the team. The Lions had an average 2011 season, in which they won only four season games and finished well clear of the play-off ranks. In 2012, the club came sixth in the northern division of the GFL and failed to qualify for the play-offs. In 2013, the Lions returned to their old dominance, winning 13 of their 14 regular season games as well as the GFL Northern Division title. After play-off wins against the Rhein-Neckar Bandits and the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes the team reached its first German Bowl since 2008, which they won by a point against the

Dresden Monarchs The Dresden Monarchs are an American football team from Dresden, Germany. They have been a member of the first tier German Football League since 2002 and play in its Northern Division. They are the reigning champion after having won German Bowl XL ...

.GFL 2013
www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 30 September 2013 In 2014, the club took part in a new European competition, the BIG6 European Football League, which consisted of three teams from Germany, two from Austria and one from Switzerland, the clubs being Berlin Adler, New Yorker Lions, Dresden Monarchs, Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna, Swarco Raiders Tirol and the

Calanda Broncos The Calanda Broncos are an American football team from Landquart, Switzerland. The club, formed in 1991 as the Landquart Broncos, changed its name in late 2008 after the Calanda mountain to show the club's desire to represent a larger region of ...

. The two best teams of this competition advanced to the Eurobowl XXVIII, where the Lions lost 20–17 to the Berlin Adler. In the GFL the Lions won the northern division once more in 2014 and defeated the

Munich Cowboys The Munich Cowboys are an American football team based in Munich, Germany. The club, together with the Düsseldorf Panther and the Ansbach Grizzlies, is one of the oldest in Germany.

69–28 in the quarter-finals and the Cologne Falcons 52–3 in the semi finals of the play-offs to reach the 2014 German Bowl. The Lions won the championship game against the

Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns are an American football team from Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. The club's greatest successes were winning the southern division title in the German Football League in 2009 and in every season played since 2011 (as of ...

47–9 and took out their ninth national title, staying undefeated in the GFL that season. In 2015, the Lions won their third Eurobowl, again defeating the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. The team also won the northern division of the GFL once more and defeated the

Saarland Hurricanes The Saarland Hurricanes are an American football team from Saarbrücken, Germany. Saarbrücken is the capital of the federal German state of Saarland, which the club is named after. The club was formed in 1996 in a merger of the two local sides S ...

in the quarter-finals and the

Allgäu Comets The Allgäu Comets are an American football team from Kempten, Germany. The club is named after the Allgäu region of Bavaria, of which Kempten is the largest town. The club was originally formed as the Kempten Comets and renamed Allgäu Comets i ...

in the semi-finals of the play-offs, facing the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns next in the German Bowl once more, which the Lions won 41–31.

Teams

Apart from the first team, the club also fields a reserve side, two youth teams, the ''Junior Lions'' and the ''Red Cubs 94'', a

Flag Football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. The sport has a strong amateur following ...

team and a women's team, the ''Lady Lions''. All six teams are part of the mother club 1. FFC Braunschweig.

Honours

** Champions: (6) 1999, 2003, 2015–2018 ** Runners-up: (2) 2002, 2014 *

** Champions: (12) 1997–1999, 2005–2008, 2013–2016, 2019 ** Runners-up: (6) 2000–2004, 2017 * EFL ** Participations: (7) 1998–2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009 * BIG6 European Football League ** Participations: (4) 2014–2018 * GFL ** Northern Division champions: (15) 1998, 1999, 2002–2007, 2013–2019 ** Play-off qualification: (23) 1994, 1996–2008, 2010, 2013–2019, 2021 ** League membership: (26) 1994–present * GFL2 ** Northern Division champions: 1993

German Bowl appearances

The club's appearances in the German Bowl:Bowls
GFL website, accessed: 1 January 2011

Eurobowl appearances

The club's appearances in the Eurobowl:

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the Lions:Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 2 January 2010GFL 2011
www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 18 September 2011 * QF = Quarter finals. * SF = Semi finals. * GB = German Bowl

Hall of Fame

The following players and coaches have been inducted into the club's hall of fame:Bastian Kypke wird 11. Mitglied der Lions “Hall of Fame“
, accessed: 7 June 2017

References

External links

*
Official website
*
German Football League official website
*
Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany {{German Football League clubs American football teams in Germany German Football League teams American football teams established in 1987 Sport in Lower Saxony Sport in Braunschweig 1987 establishments in West Germany Organisations based in Braunschweig