2015 German Football League

2015 German Football League German Football League American football File:German Bowl XXXVII.jpg 120px Logo of the German Bowl XXXVII 18 April–10 October 2015 15 Frankfurt UniverseHildesheim Invaders GFL Franken Knights GFL 2 Regular season German Football League GFL North German Football League New Yorker Lions Dresden Monarchs GFL South German Football League Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns Allgäu Comets German Bowl XXXVII German Bowl New Yorker Lions Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns :Category:German Football League seasons GFL 2014 German Football League 2014 2016 German Football League 2016 The 2015 German Football League season was the thirty seventh edition of the top-level American football competition in Germany and sixteenth since the renaming of the American football Bundesliga to German Football league. The regular season started on 18 April and finished on 5 September 2015, followed by the play-offs. The season culminated in the German Bowl XXXVII, held on 10 October 2015 in Berlin, the fourth consecutive time and the sixth overall for the championship decider to be held in the German capital. The championship was won by the New Yorker Lions who defeated the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 41–31 in a repeat of the 2014 final which the Lions had won by a record margin of 38 points.http://www.afvd.de/text.php?Inhalt=bowls Bowls 22 June 2017 de afvd.de https://web.archive.org/web/20150930055758/http://www.afvd.de/text.php?Inhalt=bowls 30 September 2015 dead Modus Germany right 350 Location of teams in the German Football League 2015 Germany 53.50 10.00 Huskies Blue_pog.svg right Germany 52.543056 13.405278 Adler Blue_pog.svg right Germany 52.500833 13.264167 Rebels Blue_pog.svg left Germany 51.040998 13.748278 Monarchs Blue_pog.svg left Germany 51.261593 6.733204 Panther Blue_pog.svg right Germany 52.290116 10.521575 Lions Blue_pog.svg right Germany 54.348889 10.123611 Baltic Hurricanes Blue_pog.svg right Germany 50.8 8.77 Mercenaries right Germany 48.218773 11.624760 Cowboys right Germany 49.37 10.17 Knights right Germany 49.248055 6.983888 Hurricanes right Germany 49.18 9.73 Unicorns right Germany 48.792295 9.18 Scorpions right Germany 47.733333 10.316667 Comets right Germany 49.48 8.47 Bandits right During the regular season each club plays all other clubs in its division twice, home and away, resulting in each team playing, nominally, 14 regular season games. The northern division in 2015 however consisted of only seven teams, resulting in only twelve regular season games per club in this division. 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.GFL 2015 football-aktuell.de, accessed: 15 September 2015 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 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. 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 was necessary. Season overview The 2015 season saw one promoted team, the Hamburg Huskies, which filled the vacant spot created by the withdrawal of the Hamburg Blue Devils shortly before the start of the 2014 season. No team was relegated from the GFL at the end of the 2014 season as the Franken Knights defended their league place in the south in the promotion-relegation round against the Kirchdorf Wildcats. Shortly before the start of the 2015 season the Cologne Falcons withdrew from the northern division for financial reasons, leaving the division to play with seven clubs for the second consecutive season.GFL 2014 football-aktuell.de, accessed: 15 September 2015Status der Cologne Falcons https://web.archive.org/web/20150923181827/http://www.gfl.info/text.php?Inhalt=newsmeldung&ID=8938 2015-09-23 de GFL website, published: 21 March 2015, accessed: 15 September 2015http://www.gfl.info/service/afvd-plugin/archivnewsmeldung/?id=8409 Hamburg Blue Devils ziehen zurück GFL 18 January 2014 26 March 2020 de Five of the eight teams qualified for the play-offs in 2014 did so again in 2015. Of the three clubs that had not qualified in the previous season the Hamburg Huskies made their first-ever play-off appearance in their first-ever GFL season while the Allgäu Comets qualified for the first time since 1988. The third team, the Saarland Hurricanes, made their second play-off appearance, having previously qualified in 2005. Of the three teams not qualified for the 2015 play-offs that had played in the 2014 post season the Marburg Mercenaries saw the end of their run of eleven consecutive play-off appearances.Historic American football tables & results from Germany https://web.archive.org/web/20170928064827/http://football-history.de/ 2017-09-28 football-history.de, accessed: 15 September 2015 At the bottom end of the league, no team was relegated from the northern division of the GFL while the champions of the northern division of the GFL 2, the Hildesheim Invaders, earned the right to compete in the league in 2016. In the southern division the Franken Knights voluntarily withdrew to the GFL 2 after coming last in 2014 and 2015 and only winning a single league game in this two seasons. The champions of the southern division of the GFL 2, the Frankfurt Universe, was thereby directly promoted without the need to play the two promotion-relegation games against the eighth placed GFL South team. Both promotions are however subject to licence applications and approval.Hildesheim Invaders und Frankfurt Universe stehen als GFL Aufsteiger fest https://web.archive.org/web/20150928155845/http://www.gfl.info/text.php?Inhalt=newsmeldung&ID=9190&HP=GFL 2015-09-28 de GFL website, published: 8 September 2015, accessed: 15 September 2015 In the quarter-finals of the play-offs the two top teams of each division advanced to the semi-finals. With the Allgäu Comets, second in the south, defeating the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes two southern teams advanced to the semi-finals for the first time since 2009. In the previous five seasons only the southern division champions had survived the quarter-finals except 2013 when the four semi-finalists all came from the northern division. In the semi-finals the two division champions won their home games, the first time since 2007 that all quarter- and semi-finals were won by the home team. The 2015 German Bowl was a repeat of the 2014 final, seeing the New Yorker Lions defeat the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 41–31.Heimteams noch einmal im Vorteil? https://web.archive.org/web/20150928000212/http://www.gfl.info/text.php?Inhalt=newsmeldung&ID=9211&HP=GFL 2015-09-28 de GFL website, published: 23 September 2015, accessed: 27 September 2015 League tables GFL The league tables of the two GFL divisions:GFL 2015 www.scoresway.com, accessed: 8 October 2015 GFL North P Position Team G Games W Wins T Ties L Losses PF Points for (total points scored) PA Points against (total points allowed) PCT Winning percentage 1 New Yorker Lions1211014831480.917 2 Dresden Monarchs1210024981700.833 3 Kiel Baltic Hurricanes129034692510.750 4 Hamburg Huskies125072253090.417 5 Berlin Rebels124082963370.333 6 Berlin Adler1220101454690.167 7 Düsseldorf Panther121011875190.083 GFL South P Position Team G Games W Wins T Ties L Losses PF Points for (total points scored) PA Points against (total points allowed) PCT Winning percentage 1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns1413016852340.929 2 Allgäu Comets1412025272180.857 3 Stuttgart Scorpions1410045242810.714 4 Saarland Hurricanes148064193420.571 5 Munich Cowboys147073123800.500 6 Marburg Mercenaries1430112864840.214 7 Rhein-Neckar Bandits1420121714930.143 8 Franken Knights1410131266180.071 GFL2 The league tables of the two GFL 2 divisions:GFL 2 2015 football.aktuell.de, accessed: 27 September 2015 GFL2 North P Position Team G Games W Wins T Ties L Losses PF Points for (total points scored) PA Points against (total points allowed) PCT Winning percentage 1 Hildesheim Invaders1410135734010.750 2 Lübeck Cougars149145474480.679 3 Paderborn Dolphins148064553220.571 4 Cologne Crocodiles148063793290.571 5 Potsdam Royals147073693210.500 6 Bonn Gamecocks145183744890.393 7 Bielefeld Bulldogs#145183774600.393 8 Elmshorn Fighting Pirates1420123206240.143 GFL2 South P Position Team G Games W Wins T Ties L Losses PF Points for (total points scored) PA Points against (total points allowed) PCT Winning percentage 1 Frankfurt Universe1414006012041.000 2 Ingolstadt Dukes1411034761820.786 3 Kirchdorf Wildcats149054813090.643 4 Nürnberg Rams148064663970.571 5 Wiesbaden Phantoms147072913690.500 6 Holzgerlingen Twister‡1430112144350.214 7 Darmstadt Diamonds‡1430111584870.214 8 München Rangers‡1410132555590.071 # The Bielefeld Bulldogs applied for an additional place in the GFL2 for 2016 which was available because there was one team promoted to the GFL North but no team relegated from the division.Bulldogs bewerben sich für die GFL 2 de Neue Westfälische, published: 22 September 2015, accessed: 27 September 2015 Bielefeld and was later awarded the available place in the GFL 2 for 2016.Bielefeld Bulldogs und München Rangers 2016 in GFL 2 https://web.archive.org/web/20160306124545/http://www.gfl.info/text.php?Inhalt=newsmeldung&ID=9240&HP=GFL 2016-03-06 de GFL website, published: 28 October 2015, accessed: 3 November 2015 ‡ The Holzgerlingen Twister withdrew from the GFL 2 to the Regionalliga at the end of the 2015 season. Originally the Darmstadt Diamonds retained their GFL 2 place but later declined and opted to play in the Regionalliga in 2016.Die Uhren stehen auf Neuanfang de Kreiszeitung Böblingen, published: 19 September 2015, accessed: 27 September 2015 The München Rangers therefore were awarded the available place in the GFL 2 for 2016.Diamonds 2016 in der Regionalliga https://web.archive.org/web/20151212071011/http://www.darmstadt-diamonds.de/d/news/show/551 2015-12-12 de Darmstadt Diamonds website, published: 15 October 2015, accessed: 3 November 2015 Key GFL: Qualified for play-offsGFL 2: Promoted Relegation play-offsPromotion play-offs Relegated Play-offs The quarter-finals of the 2015 play-offs were played on 19 and 20 September, the semi-finals 26 September and the German Bowl on 10 October 2015. The German Bowl was held at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark in Berlin:German Bowl de Official website, accessed: 16 September 2015 German Bowl N1 New Yorker Lions 57 S4 Saarland Hurricanes 14 S2 Allgäu Comets 39 N3 Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 27 S1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 61 N4 Hamburg Huskies 13 N2 Dresden Monarchs 55 S3 Stuttgart Scorpions 14 N1 New Yorker Lions 42 S2 Allgäu Comets 21 S1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 41 N2 Dresden Monarchs 34 N1 New Yorker Lions 41 S1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 31 References 30em External links Official GFL website de German Football League Category:German Football League seasons