Braunschweig Lions
Encyclopedia
The New Yorker Lions are an American Football
team from Braunschweig
, Germany
. Until late 2010, the team was known as the Braunschweig Lions.
Under this name, the Lions became the most successful American football club in Germany, winning seven German Bowls
as well as two Eurobowls
. From 1997 to 2008, the team played in twelve consecutive German Bowls.
, 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 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
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
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 Eurobowl
, 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
. 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
and the Stuttgart Scorpions
, while the final victory came against the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes
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 November 2010, the club announced that the team would carry a new name for the 2011 season. Their name is shared with the NewYorker
, 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.
team and a women's team, the Lady Lions. All six teams are part of the mother club 1. FFC Braunschweig.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team from Braunschweig
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Until late 2010, the team was known as the Braunschweig Lions.
Under this name, the Lions became the most successful American football club in Germany, winning seven German Bowls
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....
as well as two Eurobowls
Eurobowl
The Eurobowl is both the final game and the trophy of the European Football League , a European American football contest.-Eurobowls:-Champions:...
. From 1997 to 2008, the team played in twelve consecutive German Bowls.
History
The Braunschweig Lions were formed in 1987 and the new team entered the tier-three Regionalliga Nord for that season, where it came third. The Lions were nevertheless promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga, now the German Football League 2German Football League 2
The German Football League 2 is the second tier of American football in Germany, below the German Football League. Until 2007, the league was known as the 2nd Bundesliga.-League structure:...
, 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
German Football League
The German Football League is the elite league for American football in Germany. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA....
. 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
Hamburg Blue Devils
The Hamburg Blue Devils are an American football team in Hamburg, Germany. The Blue Devils are one of the most successful American football clubs in Germany, having won four German Bowls as well as three Eurobowls...
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
Cologne Crocodiles
The Cologne Crocodiles are an American football team from Cologne, Germany.The clubs greatest success came in 2000, when it won the German Bowl for the first and, so far, only time...
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 Eurobowl
Eurobowl
The Eurobowl is both the final game and the trophy of the European Football League , a European American football contest.-Eurobowls:-Champions:...
, 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
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 a ten Ladies Bowls and five Junior Bowls....
. 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
Marburg Mercenaries
The Marburg Mercenaries are an American football team from Marburg, Germany.Internationally, the clubs greatest success came in 2005, when it won the EFAF Cup, followed by a losing appearance in the Eurobowl in 2007...
and the Stuttgart Scorpions
Stuttgart Scorpions
The Stuttgart Scorpions are an American football team from Stuttgart, Germany.The clubs greatest success came in 2007, when it reached the German Bowl but lost to the Braunschweig Lions.-History:The Stuttgart Scorpions were formed in December 1982...
, while the final victory came against the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes
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 four consecutive German Bowls from 2008 to 2011, losing the first two, winning the third and losing the fourth.The club is part of the...
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 November 2010, the club announced that the team would carry a new name for the 2011 season. Their name is shared with the NewYorker
NewYorker
NewYorker is an international fashion label based in Braunschweig, Germany. It primarily addresses the target group of 12 to 39-year-olds.In 1971 the first NewYorker store was opened in Flensburg Jean City Center...
, 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.
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 FootballFlag football
Flag football is a version of Canadian football or American football that is popular worldwide. The basic rules of the game are similar to those of the mainstream game , but instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end...
team and a women's team, the Lady Lions. All six teams are part of the mother club 1. FFC Braunschweig.
Honours
- EurobowlEurobowlThe Eurobowl is both the final game and the trophy of the European Football League , a European American football contest.-Eurobowls:-Champions:...
- Champions: 1999, 2003
- Runners-up: 2002
- German BowlGerman BowlThe 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....
- Champions: (7) 1997–1999, 2005–2008
- Runners-up: (5) 2000–2004
- EFLEuropean Football LeagueThe European Football League is a European Cup style tournament for European American Football teams affiliated to EFAF...
- Participations: (7) 1998–2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009
- GFLGerman Football LeagueThe German Football League is the elite league for American football in Germany. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA....
- Northern Division champions: (8) 1998, 1999, 2002–2007
- Play-off qualification : (15) 1994, 1996–2008, 2010
- League membership : (18) 1994–present
- GFL 2German Football League 2The German Football League 2 is the second tier of American football in Germany, below the German Football League. Until 2007, the league was known as the 2nd Bundesliga.-League structure:...
- Northern Division champions: 1993
German Bowl appearances
The clubs appearances in the German Bowl:| Bowl | Date | Champions | Runners-Up | Score | Location | Attendance |
| XIX | October 4, 1997 | Braunschweig Lions | Cologne Crocodiles | 26-23 | Hamburg Hamburg -History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808... |
14,800 |
| XX | October 3, 1998 | Braunschweig Lions | Hamburg Blue Devils | 20-14 | Hamburg | 22,100 |
| XXI | October 9, 1999 | Braunschweig Lions | Hamburg Blue Devils | 25-24 | Hamburg | 30,400 |
| XXII | October 7, 2000 | Cologne Crocodiles | Braunschweig Lions | 31-29 | Braunschweig Braunschweig Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser.... |
20,312 |
| XXIII | October 6, 2001 | Hamburg Blue Devils | Braunschweig Lions | 31-13 | Hanover Hanover Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg... |
23,193 |
| XXIV | October 12, 2002 | Hamburg Blue Devils | Braunschweig Lions | 16-13 | Braunschweig | 21,097 |
| XXV | October 11, 2003 | Hamburg Blue Devils | Braunschweig Lions | 37-36 | Wolfsburg Wolfsburg Wolfsburg is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the River Aller northeast of Braunschweig , and is mainly notable as the headquarters of Volkswagen AG... |
20,517 |
| XXVI | October 9, 2004 | Berlin Adler | Braunschweig Lions | 10-7 | Braunschweig | 17,200 |
| XXVII | October 8, 2005 | Braunschweig Lions | Hamburg Blue Devils | 31-28 | Hanover | 19,512 |
| XXVIII | October 7, 2006 | Braunschweig Lions | Marburg Mercenaries | 31-13 | Braunschweig | 15,897 |
| XXIX | October 6, 2007 | Braunschweig Lions | Stuttgart Scorpions | 27-6 | Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million .... |
8,152 |
| XXX | September 29, 2008 | Braunschweig Lions | Kiel Baltic Hurricanes | 20-14 | Frankfurt Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010... |
16,177 |
- Champions in bold.
Recent seasons
Recent seasons of the Lions:| Year | Division | Finish | Points | Pct. | Games | W | D | L | PF | PA | Postseason |
| 2005 | GFL German Football League The German Football League is the elite league for American football in Germany. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA.... (North) |
1st | 18–6 | 0.750 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 410 | 177 | Won QF: Saarland Hurricanes 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... (32–17) Won SF: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns are an American football team from Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.The clubs greatest successes were winning the southern division title in the German Football League in 2009 and 2011, followed up by winning the German Bowl in 2011.... (33–8) Won GB: Hamburg Blue Devils Hamburg Blue Devils The Hamburg Blue Devils are an American football team in Hamburg, Germany. The Blue Devils are one of the most successful American football clubs in Germany, having won four German Bowls as well as three Eurobowls... (31–28) |
| 2006 | 1st | 22–2 | 0.917 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 483 | 165 | Won QF: Darmstadt Diamonds (79–0) Won SF: Stuttgart Scorpions Stuttgart Scorpions The Stuttgart Scorpions are an American football team from Stuttgart, Germany.The clubs greatest success came in 2007, when it reached the German Bowl but lost to the Braunschweig Lions.-History:The Stuttgart Scorpions were formed in December 1982... (36–17) Won GB: Marburg Mercenaries Marburg Mercenaries The Marburg Mercenaries are an American football team from Marburg, Germany.Internationally, the clubs greatest success came in 2005, when it won the EFAF Cup, followed by a losing appearance in the Eurobowl in 2007... (31–13) |
|
| 2007 | 1st | 23–1 | 0.958 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 354 | 166 | Won QF: Weinheim Longhorns (55–26) Won SF: Marburg Mercenaries Marburg Mercenaries The Marburg Mercenaries are an American football team from Marburg, Germany.Internationally, the clubs greatest success came in 2005, when it won the EFAF Cup, followed by a losing appearance in the Eurobowl in 2007... (26–21) Won GB: Stuttgart Scorpions Stuttgart Scorpions The Stuttgart Scorpions are an American football team from Stuttgart, Germany.The clubs greatest success came in 2007, when it reached the German Bowl but lost to the Braunschweig Lions.-History:The Stuttgart Scorpions were formed in December 1982... (27–6) |
|
| 2008 | 2nd | 17–7 | 0.708 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 328 | 214 | Won QF: Munich Cowboys 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. The team refers to itself as The Grand Old Team of the South.... (32–13) Won SF: Marburg Mercenaries Marburg Mercenaries The Marburg Mercenaries are an American football team from Marburg, Germany.Internationally, the clubs greatest success came in 2005, when it won the EFAF Cup, followed by a losing appearance in the Eurobowl in 2007... (49–21) Won GB: Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 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 four consecutive German Bowls from 2008 to 2011, losing the first two, winning the third and losing the fourth.The club is part of the... (20–14) |
|
| 2009 | 5th | 6–14 | 0.300 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 168 | 212 | — | |
| 2010 | 4th | 10–14 | 0.417 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 258 | 247 | Lost QF: Marburg Mercenaries Marburg Mercenaries The Marburg Mercenaries are an American football team from Marburg, Germany.Internationally, the clubs greatest success came in 2005, when it won the EFAF Cup, followed by a losing appearance in the Eurobowl in 2007... (21–31) |
|
| 2011 | 6th | 8–20 | 0.286 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 222 | 311 | — |
- RR = Relegation round.
- QF = Quarter finals.
- SF = Semi finals.
- GB = German Bowl