The Frankfurter Löwen () were 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
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
,
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 ''Löwen'' were the first American football club to be formed in Germany.
[Geschichte]
AFVD website, accessed: 29 December 2010[Google book review: Turnen and sport: transatlantic transfers]
author: Annette R. Hofmann, accessed: 12 January 2010 The club, a founding member of the ''
American Football Bundesliga'', was also the winner of the first two editions of the
German Bowl.
However, the club was short-lived, folding in 1985. It was the last team to represent Frankfurt at the GFL level for over three decades before
Frankfurt Universe earned promotion to the top tier after the 2015 season.
History
The history of American football in Germany, outside the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
bases in the country, began in 1977, when the Frankfurter Löwen were formed as the first club to play the game in Germany. At first, this team was only able to play US Army teams, lacking German opposition.
The driving force behind the formation of the club was Alexander Sperber, son of a
U.S. Army soldier and a German mother.
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 Frankfurter Löwen,
Ansbach Grizzlies,
Düsseldorf Panther,
Munich Cowboys, Berlin Bears and
Bremerhaven Seahawks.
The first official game of the league was played on 4 August 1979, between the ''Löwen'' and the Düsseldorf Panther, won 38 to 0 by Frankfurt.
The ''Löwen'' were an early power house of the game in Germany. The first season was completed undefeated, culminating in a German Bowl victory over the Ansbach Grizzlies, the team it would face in all three editions of the German Bowl it played in.
While the club was able to repeat its championship the following year, with the league now split into a northern and a southern division, Ansbach finally managed to triumph in 1981. Frankfurt won its division, the northern, which it played in despite being a rather central German club, but was stopped by the Grizzlies in the final. While the Grizzlies continued to play in the German Bowl until 1986, the short golden era of the ''Löwen'' had come thereby to a halt.
The team moved to the southern division for 1982 but came only third that year and was knocked out in the quarter-finals by the Düsseldorf Panther, who would go on to win the final. Panthers and Lions met again the following year in the quarter-finals, with the same result, while 1984 was to be the last season for the club. The Frankfurter Löwen only just scraped into the play-offs, finishing fourth, and again had to face the Panthers, where a 55–0 defeat would be the last competitive game ever played by the side.
After the 1984 season, the club folded in 1985, as the members could not agree how to reform the club. By that time some players had founded the
Frankfurt Gamblers.
Gamblers & Knights
The Gamblers advanced in 1991 to Germany's 2nd division central conference (2. Bundesliga Mitte), which they won in 1993. They were not promoted to first league, though, due to having fielded an ineligible player. As the
Frankfurt Galaxy of the WLAF had caused a Football boom in Frankfurt an Germany from 1991 to 1992, but the NFL-backed league did not play in 1993 and 1994, some entrepreneurs and clubs founded the
Football League of Europe in 1994. The Gamblers gambled on that league and skipped another season in the German league. The team won 2 of 9 games in the FLE Central Conference under Head coach Tracy A. Holland, and had been spared a trip to Helsinki for the 10th game.
At the end of 1994, the club was bankrupt and formally dissolved to get rid of the debt. With Frankfurt being the banking center of Germany and maybe of continental Europe, and apparently some surplus money to spend, the players and managers gambled again. They formed the
Frankfurt Knights and tried another season in the FLE, with the same result at the end of 1995.
By 1995, the Frankfurt Galaxy had returned, and the former World League was now 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 ...
. That league was popular in Germany, were eventually 5 of 6 teams were placed, but no amateur football team established itself in Frankfurt itself.
In 2007, new NFL commissioner
Roger Goodell
Roger Stokoe Goodell (born February 19, 1959) is an American businessman who has served as the National Football League Commissioner, commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) since 2006.
Goodell began his NFL career in 1982 as an admi ...
discontinued 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 ...
and thus the Frankfurt Galaxy.
Football-Hauptstadt Frankfurt
''Frankfurter Allgemeine
The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...
'', published: 24 October 2007, accessed: 12 January 2011 Soon, fans founded Frankfurt Universe to continue as an amateur Football club, hoping to take over name, brand etc. from the Galaxy. By 2016, they had advanced to the top German Football League
The German Football League (GFL) is a professional American football league in Germany. The league was formed in 1979. In 1999, the league changed to its current name from American-Football-Bundesliga. , finishing second in the southern conference.
Unrelated hockey clubs
A similar-named club, the Frankfurt Lions, were actually an ice hockey club unrelated to the football ''Löwen''. Yet, they folded in 2010 after having had their licence revoked, and the new club was named the Löwen Frankfurt.
Honours
* German Bowl
** Champions: 1979, 1980
** Runners-up: 1981
* American Football Bundesliga
** Regular season champions: 1979
** Northern Division champions: 1980, 1981
** Play-off qualification : (6) 1979–1984
** League membership : (6) 1979–1984
German Bowl appearances
The club's appearances in the German Bowl:[Bowls](_blank)
GFL website, accessed: 1 January 2011
* Champions in bold.
Seasons
The complete seasons played by the Frankfurter Löwen:[Football History]
Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 2 January 2010
* QF = Quarter finals.
* SF = Semi finals.
* GB = German Bowl
References
External links
*
German Football League official website
*
Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankfurter Lowen
Defunct American football teams in Germany
American football teams established in 1977
American football teams disestablished in 1985
Sport in Frankfurt
1977 establishments in West Germany
American football in Hesse
1985 disestablishments in West Germany