The Lübeck Cougars 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 wit ...

team from

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. The club had its greatest success in 2012 when it played in 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 ...

for a season.

History

The club was formed in 1987 out of the members of an earlier American football club in Lübeck, the ''Outlaws'', which went defunct the year before.American Sports Club Lübeck e.V.
Lübeck Cougars website, accessed: 17 October 2014 The Cougars entered league football in 1990, playing in Landesliga Nord for a season before earning promotion to the

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 ...

. After three seasons in the Regionalliga the club was promoted to the 2. American football Bundesliga, now the

German Football League 2 The German Football League 2 (GFL2) is the second tier of American football in Germany, below 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 ...

but lasted for only one season before returning to the Regionalliga.Lübeck Cougars season by season results
football-history.de, accessed: 17 October 2014 The next seven seasons the Cougars played either in the Regionalliga or the Oberliga below before making a return to the 2. Bundesliga in 2001. The club played nine seasons in this league, renamed to GFL 2 at the end of the 2007 season and was finally promoted to the German Football League in 2011 when the Mönchengladbach Mavericks folded in the off-season and an additional place in the league became available. The Cougars lasted for only one season at the highest level, coming last in the league and losing in the promotion/relegation round to the Cologne Falcons. Back in the GFL 2 the club came only fifth in 2013 but improved in 2014, finishing second, its best-ever finish in the league. It repeated this result in 2015.

Honours

* GFL ** League membership: 2012

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the Cougars: * PR/RR = Promotion/relegation round. * QF = Quarter finals. * SF = Semi finals. * GB = German Bowl.

References

External links

*
Official website
*
German Football League official website
*
Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany {{DEFAULTSORT:Lubeck Cougars German Football League teams American football teams in Germany American football teams established in 1987 1987 establishments in West Germany Sport in Lübeck