2016 German Football League

The 2016 German Football League season was the 38th edition of the top-level American football competition in Germany and seventeenth since the renaming of the American Football Bundesliga to German Football league.

2016 German Football League
LeagueGerman Football League
SportAmerican football
Duration16 April–8 October 2016
Number of teams16
Promoted to GFLCologne Crocodiles
Ingolstadt Dukes
Relegated to GFL 2Düsseldorf Panther
Rhein-Neckar Bandits
Regular season
GFL North championsNew Yorker Lions
  GFL North runners-upDresden Monarchs
GFL South championsSchwäbisch Hall Unicorns
  GFL South runners-upFrankfurt Universe
German Bowl XXXVIII
ChampionsNew Yorker Lions
  Runners-upSchwäbisch Hall Unicorns

The regular season started on 16 April and finished on 10 September 2016, followed by the play-offs. The season culminated in the German Bowl XXXVIII, held on 8 October 2016 in Berlin. The championship was won by the New Yorker Lions who defeated the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 31–20 in a repeat of the 2014 and 2015 finals, which the Lions had also won.[1]

Modus
Location of teams in the German Football League 2016

During the regular season each club plays all other clubs in its division twice, home and away, resulting in each team playing 14 regular season games. There are no games between clubs from opposite divisions, interconference games having been abolished after the 2011 season when the GFL was expanded from 14 to 16 teams.[2]

The best four teams in each division qualify for the play-offs where, in the quarter finals, teams from opposite divisions play each other, whereby the better placed teams have home field advantage. The first placed team plays the fourth placed from the other division and the second placed the third placed team. From the semi-finals onwards teams from the same division can meet again.[2]

The eighth placed team in each division entered a two-leg play-off with the winner of the respective division of the German Football League 2, the second tier of the league system in Germany. The winners of this contest qualified for the GFL for the following season. In case of a GFL division consisting of less than eight clubs no play-off is necessary.[2]

Season overview

Compared to the 2015 season, two new clubs will compete in the GFL in 2016. The Hildesheim Invaders filled the vacant spot in the northern division while the Frankfurt Universe replaced the Franken Knights in the south.[3][2] For Hildesheim it marked a return to the league after 25 years, having spent two seasons in the Bundesliga in 1990 and 1991 while Frankfurt won promotion to the GFL for the first time.[4]

In the season opener, Frankfurt which had raised expectations through high caliber names on the roster and a perfect season in the GFL2 in 2015 played against Southern Powerhouse Schwäbisch Hall, which had just gotten a lot of attention due to Moritz Böhringer playing for them before entering the NFL draft. In a hard fought match with errors on both sides, Schwäbisch Hall, led by Quarterback Marco Ehrenfried ultimately prevailed 26–21. This was also the last GFL game receiver Patrick Donahue played for Schwäbisch Hall before being invited to rookie minicamp by the Green Bay Packers.[5] In the first game in the North, defending champion Brunswick easily prevailed over the Hamburg Huskies 44–3. The Dresden Monarchs, which had been a perpetual playoff contender in previous years but lost many players after the 2015 season drew their first away game against the Berlin Rebels 21–21. The German teams that had qualified for European competitions (BIG 6 and EFL Bowl) meanwhile fared a lot worse than in previous years. While both competitions had been dominated by German teams and both finals had been played between two German teams, this year Kiel lost their opening match in the EFL Bowl at home against the Amsterdam Crusaders 24–31 in Overtime, setting the tone for the ensuing games, which would result in a Hamburg loss to Amsterdam on the road (64–19), a Schwäbisch Hall loss to the Swarco Raiders Tirol on the road in the Big 6 (34–0) and losses for the Berlin Adler in all their games. The only German teams showing anything approaching the previous dominance were the New Yorker Lions, that won on the road against the Vienna Vikings (14–21) and at home against the Aix-en-Provence Argonautes (53–0) thus qualifying for Eurobowl XXX and the newly promoted Frankfurt Universe that won their first ever official European match on the road against the Thonon Black Panthers (0–48). While the Dresden Monarchs managed to get some redemption by convincingly winning their home opener against the Berlin Adler (71–20) in front of over 6000 spectators, the Berlin Rebels continued to raise expectations by narrowly beating the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 19–17 at home. The Adler meanwhile went on the road against the Hamburg Huskies beating them 17–14 to the surprise of many observers, who had seen the Adler as without a chance given their performance in Dresden. This also showed that the defeats in the EFL were not a fluke for Hamburg and Kiel. In the South the Allgäu Comets managed to reduce the costly errors late in the game that had cost them many narrow games in the previous season to beat Stuttgart 30–24 at home after a 29–62 road win against Munich in which Grant Isdale made five Touchdowns in a single half. The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns returned from their lopsided loss to Tirol to beat the Marburg Mercenaries 56–25. Hildesheim won their first game after being promoted against Düsseldorf (51–20) but lost the next game in Braunschweig in a lopsided 52–7. Whereas Dresden went on the road to Kiel to get their first defeat of the season (35–30). The game was decided late when Dresden failed to convert four times on their last drive. Stuttgart lost at home to Frankfurt (43–49) in an offensive slugfest with defensive errors on both sides giving Universe their first ever GFL win. The rematch of Kiel-Dresden took place in Dresden and as many times before Dresden delivered revenge on their foes from the Baltic, jumping up to a 21–0 lead in the first quarter and putting the game out of reach by halftime (35–0) keeping Kiel off the scoreboard until the second half before finally prevailing 56–14. In the South Munich fell to the Allgäu Comets once more losing 42–10 on the road. While Schwäbisch Hall prevailed 37–14 at home over the Saarland Hurricanes reducing the number of undefeated teams in the South to two. Frankfurt meanwhile had no problem dispatching of their European adversary Badalona Dracs (49–7) and thus the second German team advanced to a European Final - after four German teams had stood in the two European finals the previous season. After their convincing home win against Kiel, the Dresden Monarchs had to go on the road to top rival Braunschweig and despite bringing them closer to defeat than any other team in that season thus far, they ultimately lost 33–26, despite leading by a point at the half. Frankfurt meanwhile showed their potential by going on the road to Kempten beating the Allgäu Comets 10–0 in a defense heavy game with heavy rain affecting the play of both teams. The only Touchdown in the Frankfurt Kempten game came of a special teams play. Hall beat the Mercenaries on the road (49–20) thus staying the only team in the south to have a perfect winning percentage in league games. The Huskies meanwhile finally got their first win of the season beating Düsseldorf on the road 31–20.

League tables

GFL

The league tables of the two GFL divisions:

North
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD PCT Qualification or relegation
1 New Yorker Lions 14 11 2 1 547 171 +376 .857 Qualification to play-offs
2 Dresden Monarchs 14 10 2 2 708 345 +363 .786
3 Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 14 10 1 3 483 297 +186 .750
4 Berlin Rebels 14 10 1 3 494 315 +179 .750
5 Hildesheim Invaders 14 5 0 9 445 569 −124 .357
6 Hamburg Huskies 14 4 0 10 370 629 −259 .286
7 Berlin Adler 14 3 0 11 296 643 −347 .214
8 Düsseldorf Panther 14 0 0 14 270 644 −374 .000 Relegation play-offs to GFL2
Updated to match(es) played on 3 September 2016. Source: Football-aktuell, GFL.info, Scoresway
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage,[notes 1] 2) Head-to-head results

South
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD PCT Qualification or relegation
1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 14 14 0 0 694 282 +412 1.000 Qualification to play-offs
2 Frankfurt Universe 14 12 0 2 546 173 +373 .857
3 Saarland Hurricanes 14 8 0 6 415 370 +45 .571
4 Allgäu Comets 14 8 0 6 492 340 +152 .571
5 Stuttgart Scorpions 14 7 0 7 474 387 +87 .500
6 Munich Cowboys 14 5 0 9 335 560 −225 .357
7 Marburg Mercenaries 14 2 0 12 284 591 −307 .143
8 Rhein-Neckar Bandits 14 0 0 14 171 708 −537 .000 Relegation play-offs to GFL2
Updated to match(es) played on 10 September 2016. Source: Football-aktuell, GFL.info, Scoresway
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage, 2) Head-to-head results

GFL 2

The league tables of the two GFL 2 divisions:

North
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD PCT Qualification or relegation
1 Cologne Crocodiles 14 13 0 1 560 183 +377 .929 Qualification to promotion play-off
2 Paderborn Dolphins 14 10 0 4 534 408 +126 .714
3 Potsdam Royals 14 9 0 5 422 352 +70 .643
4 Lübeck Cougars 14 8 0 6 496 303 +193 .571
5 Bonn Gamecocks 14 7 0 7 446 366 +80 .500
6 Assindia Cardinals 14 4 0 10 277 414 −137 .286
7 Bielefeld Bulldogs 14 3 0 11 288 569 −281 .214 Relegation to Regionalliga
8 Ritterhude Badgers 14 2 0 12 246 673 −427 .143
Updated to match(es) played on 4 September 2016. Source: Football-aktuell, GFL.info
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage, 2) Head-to-head results

South
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD PCT Qualification or relegation
1 Ingolstadt Dukes 14 14 0 0 565 169 +396 1.000 Qualification to promotion play-off
2 Kirchdorf Wildcats 14 10 1 3 604 325 +279 .750
3 Wiesbaden Phantoms 14 10 0 4 465 324 +141 .714
4 Nürnberg Rams 14 7 1 6 483 449 +34 .536
5 Ravensburg Razorbacks 14 6 0 8 377 523 −146 .429
6 Gießen Golden Dragons 14 4 2 8 325 398 −73 .357
7 Franken Knights 14 3 0 11 296 455 −159 .214 Relegation to Regionalliga
8 München Rangers 14 0 0 14 124 596 −472 .000
Updated to match(es) played on 10 September 2016. Source: Football-aktuell, GFL.info
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage, 2) Head-to-head results

Play-offs

The quarter-finals of the 2016 play-offs were played on 17 and 18 September. The German Bowl was held on 8 October at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark in Berlin.[6] Home field advantage is granted to the better placed team during the regular season (e.g. 2nd has home field advantage against the 3rd).

The first round of the Playoffs saw the home teams prevail in three out of the four games, with Dresden and Braunschweig in especially dominant fashion. For Schwäbisch Hall a good first half was sufficient to outlast the attempts by the Rebels to reverse their fortunes in the second half. Frankfurt lost its first playoff game in team history to the surprise of some in a heavy rain to Kiel who ultimately prevailed 10:03 in a low scoring game. 2016 marks the third time in a row that Dresden plays Schwäbisch Hall on the road in the semifinals. In both 2015 and 2014 Hall ultimately prevailed and went on to lose the German Bowl to Braunschweig. The same occurred in this season as well. With both the Unicorns and the Lions winning their home semifinals, and the Lions ultimately defeating the Unicorns in German Bowl XXXVIII.

Quarterfinals Semifinals German Bowl
         
N1 New Yorker Lions 30
S4 Allgäu Comets 6
N1 New Yorker Lions 38
N3 Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 21
S2 Frankfurt Universe 3
N3 Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 10
N1 New Yorker Lions 31
S1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 20
S1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 24
N4 Berlin Rebels 14
S1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 35
N2 Dresden Monarchs 26
N2 Dresden Monarchs 43
S3 Saarland Hurricanes 7

Relegation and Promotion round
DivisionGFL TeamGFL2 Team1st leg2nd legTotal
NorthDüsseldorf PantherCologne Crocodiles 0–340–280–62
SouthRhein-Neckar BanditsIngolstadt Dukes 6–410–606–101

Notes
  1. The official standings of the GFL actually use points (plus two for a win, one positive and one negative for a draw and minus two for a loss) instead of winning percentage, which sometimes produce different results if teams have unequal numbers of games played

References
  1. "GFL 2016". scoresway.com. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  2. "GFL 2016". football-aktuell.de (in German). Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  3. "GFL 2015". football-aktuell.de (in German). Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  4. "Historic American football tables and results from Germany". football-history.de (in German). Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  5. Packers invite WR Patrick Donahue, Moritz Boehringer's teammate, to rookie minicamp published: 1 May 2016, accessed: 10 May 2016
  6. German Bowl (in German) Official website, accessed: 7 September 2016
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