The Düsseldorf Panther are an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team from

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The club is the oldest extant American football club in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, having been formed on 1 May 1978.History
Panthers website, accessed: 10 January 2010 The Panthers are one of the most successful American football clubs in Germany, having won six

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 G ...

s as well as becoming the first-ever German team to win the

Eurobowl The Eurobowl, first played in 1986, 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 country ...

in 1995. Having won its 18th '' Junior Bowl'' in 2024, the club has the most successful youth department in the sport in Germany.

History

The Panthers were formed on 1 May 1978 and, while not the first American football club in Germany—this honour going to the

Frankfurter Löwen The Frankfurter Löwen () were an American football team from Frankfurt, Germany. The ''Löwen'' were the first American football club to be formed in Germany.Geschichte
AFVD website, accessed: 29 December 2010 who were formed in 1977 but folded in the mid-1980s—are the oldest still existing club. In

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, the ''American Football Bundesliga'', later to be renamed the German Football League,GFL German Football League
AFVD website, accessed: 29 December 2010 was formed, consisting of six clubs, the Düsseldorf Panther, Frankfurter Löwen, Ansbach Grizzlies,

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.

, Berlin Bears and

Bremerhaven Seahawks The Bremerhaven Seahawks are an American football club from Bremerhaven, Germany. The club is one of the six founding members of the ''American Football Bundesliga'', alongside the Düsseldorf Panther, Frankfurter Löwen, Ansbach Grizzlies, Mun ...

. Of those six, the top two teams would contest the first ever

on 10 November 1979, however, the Panthers were a long shot from this game, finishing last without a win or point. The team did not take part in the second or third season of the league, instead forming a rival league with a number of other clubs. The Panthers won this league, the '' Nordwestdeutsche Football-Liga'', the NFL, in 1980 and 1981. Those two titles are however not recognised as national championships and the club, like all others in the league, soon returned to the ''Bundesliga''. From 1982 to 1986, the league stood under the dominance of the Panthers and the Ansbach Grizzlies, who played each other in four consecutive German Bowls, with the Panthers winning all but the 1985 one. The team remained a strong side after this but was only able to win one more championship, in 1988, in the following four years. After a 1991 season when the club couldn't qualify for the play-offs, the Panthers returned to their former strength from 1992 onwards, the club experiencing a second golden era until 1996. Three German championships were won, in 1992, 1994 and 1995. In between, in 1993, the club only reached the semi-finals while in 1996, it lost the final. Additionally, the Panthers became the first German side to win the Eurobowl in 1995. From 1995 onwards, the Panthers also had some local competition, with the

Rhein Fire Rhein Fire may refer to either of two American football franchises: * Rhein Fire (NFL Europe) The Rhein Fire were a professional football team in the NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Düsseldorf, Germany ...

, based at Düsseldorf, playing in the

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

until the league folded in 2007. From the late 1990s, the club suffered from financial trouble and was unable to maintain its high standard. After three seasons of missing the play-offs altogether, the Panthers reached the semi-finals once more in 2000 and the quarter-finals the year after. The year 2001 however saw the club drop out of the league and, for financial reasons, restart in the tier-three ''

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...

''. Success quickly returned, the Panthers won their league and the ''2nd Bundesliga'' in the following year, returning to the GFL by 2004. Unlike in the past, the Panthers were not a play-off contender anymore, struggling against relegation instead. In 2004, a fifth place was still enough not to have to enter the relegation round, the following two years this was not the case. The team was unable to win a league match in 2005, but was saved in the relegation round when it defeated the

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

there. The following season, its league performance was much improved but it could nevertheless only finish last, faced Kiel again in the relegation round and, this time lost. The Panthers played four seasons at the second level after that, from 2007 to 2010, finishing in mid-table in the first three. In 2010, a second place entitled the club to play in the promotion round courtesy to the expansion of the GFL from 12 to 14 teams. The Panthers were then able to earn promotion to the GFL by narrowly overcoming the

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-off ...

by a point on aggregate, winning 43–41 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and losing 33–34 at home. The Panther's made a successful return to Germany's highest league in 2011, finishing third and qualifying for the play-offs where they met and defeated 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 ...

in the quarter-finals and advanced to the semi-finals, where they lost to the

. In 2012, the club came fourth in the northern division of the GFL and qualified for the play-off where it was knocked out by

Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns are an American football team from Schwäbisch Hall, Germany founded in 1983. The club's greatest successes were winning the southern division title in the German Football League in 2009 and in every season played s ...

in the quarter-finals. In the 2013 season the club managed to finish only seventh in its division, thereby missing the play-offs. It came seventh again in 2014 and 2015, each time with only seven teams in the league, with only one win in two seasons. In 2016, they placed dead last once more, however this time the league had its full strength of eight teams, meaning a relegation round of Düsseldorf 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 ...

that had placed first in the GFL2 North. They lost relegation sending them down to the GFL2 for two years, before they again returned (overcoming the

Hamburg Huskies The Hamburg Huskies are an American football team in Hamburg, Germany. The club's greatest success came in 2014 when it won the northern division of the German Football League 2 and earned promotion to the German Football League. History The club ...

in the

Relegation round Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

, but lost every single game in the

2019 German Football League The 2019 German Football League season is the 41st edition of the top-level American football competition in Germany. The regular season starts on 27 April and will be finished on 8 September 2019, followed by the play-offs. The season culminated ...

including the relegation round against the

Elmshorn Fighting Pirates The Elmshorn Fighting Pirates are an American football team from Elmshorn, Germany. The club's greatest achievement is winning the championship in the GFL2 North in 2019 and - after winning the promotion/relegation round against the Düsseldorf ...

. While Covid-19 led to the cancelation of the planned 2020 season, the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

in the North saw the Hildesheim Invaders and the

try to join the upstart

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football sports league, league based in Europe, continuing some team names and logos of the former NFL Europe. The ELF played its first season in 2 ...

and ultimately withdraw their teams from the GFL after talks fell through with the ELF, thus leaving two open spots for the

2022 German Football League The 2022 German Football League season is the 43rd edition of the top-level American football competition in Germany. The regular season started on 21 May and ended on 28 August 2022, followed by the play-offs. The season culminated in the German ...

. Düsseldorf, having placed second in the 2021 GFL2 season behind the

Berlin Adler The Berlin Adler () 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 ten ''Ladies Bowls'' and five ''Junior Bowls''. International ...

would be eligible to fill one of those two spots if they so chose.

Honours

** Champions: 1995 *

** Champions: 1983, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1994, 1995 ** Runners-up: 1985, 1988, 1996 * EFL ** Participations: 1993, 1995, 1996, 2014 * GFL ** Northern Division champions: (9) 1983–1988, 1990, 1995, 1996 ** Play-off qualification: (18) 1982–1990, 1992–1996, 2000, 2001, 2011–2012 ** League membership: (32) 1979, 1982–2001, 2004–2006, 2011–2016, 2019, 2022, 2025 * GFL2: ** Northern Division champions: 2003, 2018, 2024 * Junior Bowl ** Champions: (18) 1982, 1985–1988, 1991, 1998, 2002–2008, 2010, 2022–2024 ** Runners-up: 1995, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018

German Bowl appearances

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

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the Panthers:Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 2 January 2011GFL 2011
www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 18 September 2011GFL 2 2010
www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 2 January 2011 * PR = Promotion round * RR = Relegation round * QF = Quarter finals * SF = Semi finals

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dusseldorf Panther American football teams in Germany German Football League teams American football teams established in 1978 Sport in Düsseldorf 1978 establishments in West Germany