2016 German Football League
| 2016 German Football League | |
|---|---|
| League | German Football League |
| Sport | American football |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| Regular season | |
| German Bowl XXXVIII | |
The 2016 German Football League season is 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.
The regular season started on 16 April and is scheduled to finish on 4 September 2016, followed by the play-offs. The season will culminate in the German Bowl XXXVIII.[1]
The defending champions are the New Yorker Lions who defeated the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 41–31 in the German Bowl XXXVII to win their tenth national championship and their third consecutive one.[2]
Modus
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.[3]
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.[3]
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.[3]
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.[2][3] 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 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.
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 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 3 | +41 | 1.000 | Qualification to play-offs |
| 2 | Berlin Rebels | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 21 | 0 | .500 | |
| 3 | Dresden Monarchs | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 21 | 0 | .500 | |
| 4 | Berlin Adler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 5 | Düsseldorf Panther | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 6 | Hildesheim Invaders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 7 | Kiel Baltic Hurricanes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 8 | Hamburg Huskies | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 44 | −41 | .000 | Relegation play-offs to GFL2 |
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 | Marburg Mercenaries | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 15 | +12 | 1.000 | Qualification to play-offs |
| 2 | Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 21 | +7 | 1.000 | |
| 3 | Allgäu Comets | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 4 | Munich Cowboys | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 5 | Saarland Hurricanes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 6 | Stuttgart Scorpions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 7 | Frankfurt Universe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 28 | −7 | .000 | |
| 8 | Rhein-Neckar Bandits | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 27 | −12 | .000 | Relegation play-offs to GFL2 |
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 | Paderborn Dolphins | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 62 | 7 | +55 | 1.000 | Qualification to promotion play-off |
| 2 | Cologne Crocodiles | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 10 | +25 | 1.000 | |
| 3 | Bonn Gamecocks | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 35 | +1 | 1.000 | |
| 4 | Assindia Cardinals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 5 | Potsdam Royals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 6 | Lübeck Cougars | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 36 | −1 | .000 | |
| 7 | Bielefeld Bulldogs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 35 | −25 | .000 | Relegation to Regionalliga |
| 8 | Ritterhude Badgers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 62 | −55 | .000 |
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 | Franken Knights | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Qualification to promotion play-off |
| 2 | Gießen Golden Dragons | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 3 | Ingolstadt Dukes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 4 | Kirchdorf Wildcats | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 5 | München Rangers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 6 | Nürnberg Rams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| 7 | Ravensburg Razorbacks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Relegation to Regionalliga |
| 8 | Wiesbaden Phantoms | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage, 2) Head-to-head results
References
- ^ "GFL 2016". scoresway.com. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- ^ a b "GFL 2015". football-aktuell.de (in German). Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- ^ a b c d "GFL 2016". football-aktuell.de (in German). Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- ^ "Historic American football tables and results from Germany". football-history.de (in German). Retrieved 19 April 2016.
- ^ http://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2016/5/1/11554306/packers-invite-wr-patrick-donahue-rookie-minicamp-moritz-boehringer-teammate