2019 German Football League
LeagueGerman Football League
SportAmerican football
Duration27 April–12 October 2019
Number of teams16
Promoted to GFLElmshorn Fighting Pirates, Ravensburg Razorbacks
Relegated to GFL2Düsseldorf Panther, Kirchdorf Wildcats
Regular season
GFL North championsNew Yorker Lions (15)
GFL South championsSchwäbisch Hall Unicorns (10)
German Bowl XLI
ChampionsNew Yorker Lions (12)
  Runners-upSchwäbisch Hall Unicorns

The 2019 German Football League season is the 41st edition of the top-level American football competition in Germany.

The regular season starts on 27 April and will be finished on 8 September 2019, followed by the play-offs.[1] The season culminated in the German Bowl XLI, which will be held on 12 October 2019 in Frankfurt.[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.[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 enter 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 qualify for the GFL for the following season.[3]

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 14 0 0 586 179 +407 1.000 Qualification to play-offs
2 Dresden Monarchs 14 10 0 4 418 189 +229 .714
3 Hildesheim Invaders 14 10 0 4 413 305 +108 .714
4 Berlin Rebels 14 8 0 6 387 302 +85 .571
5 Cologne Crocodiles 14 7 0 7 251 314 −63 .500
6 Potsdam Royals 14 4 1 9 243 360 −117 .321
7 Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 14 2 1 11 210 425 −215 .179
8 Düsseldorf Panther 14 0 0 14 185 619 −434 .000 Relegation play-offs to GFL2

South

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD PCT Qualification or relegation
1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 14 14 0 0 680 176 +504 1.000 Qualification to play-offs
2 Frankfurt Universe 14 11 0 3 478 252 +226 .786
3 Marburg Mercenaries 14 9 0 5 493 378 +115 .643
4 Stuttgart Scorpions 14 6 0 8 328 473 −145 .429
5 Ingolstadt Dukes 14 5 0 9 298 433 −135 .357
6 Allgäu Comets 14 5 0 9 263 406 −143 .357
7 Munich Cowboys 14 3 1 10 238 423 −185 .250
8 Kirchdorf Wildcats 14 2 1 11 276 513 −237 .179 Relegation play-offs to GFL2

GFL2

The league tables of the two GFL2 divisions:

North

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD PCT Qualification or relegation
1 Elmshorn Fighting Pirates 14 12 0 2 561 279 +282 .857 Qualification to promotion play-off
2 Lübeck Cougars 14 10 0 4 418 337 +81 .714
3 Rostock Griffins 14 8 0 6 456 353 +103 .571
4 Solingen Paladins 14 8 0 6 370 386 −16 .571
5 Langenfeld Longhorns 14 8 0 6 481 414 +67 .571
6 Hamburg Huskies 14 7 0 7 399 340 +59 .500
7 Hannover Spartans 14 2 0 12 250 515 −265 .143 Relegation to Regionalliga
8 Troisdorf Jets 14 1 0 13 203 514 −311 .071
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 Ravensburg Razorbacks 12 10 0 2 433 244 +189 .833 Qualification to promotion play-off
2 Saarland Hurricanes 12 9 0 3 501 183 +318 .750
3 Straubing Spiders 12 9 0 3 431 182 +249 .750
4 Biberach Beavers 12 6 0 6 288 385 −97 .500
5 Wiesbaden Phantoms 12 5 0 7 301 304 −3 .417
6 Darmstadt Diamonds 12 3 0 9 176 420 −244 .250
7 Gießen Golden Dragons 12 0 0 12 62 474 −412 .000 Relegation to Regionalliga
Source: Football-aktuell, GFL.info
Rules for classification: 1) Winning percentage, 2) Head-to-head results

Relegation and Promotion round

DivisionGFL TeamGFL2 Team1st leg2nd legTotal
NorthDüsseldorf PantherElmshorn Fighting Pirates 14–4721–3435–81
SouthKirchdorf WildcatsRavensburg Razorbacks 28–4034–5862–98

Play-offs

This year all play-off games were won by the home teams and the Dresden Monarchs found their match in the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns for the fourth time in five years (losing their semifinals to them in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018). This losing streak would only end in German Bowl XLII which again saw Schwäbisch Hall face the Monarchs, but this time the Saxonians prevailed. Avenging the previous year's semifinal defeat against Frankfurt, Braunschweig once again reached the German Bowl, which would be played in Frankfurt's Waldstadion this year. In a low scoring affair, Braunschweig snapped a fifty-game winning streak of Schwäbisch Hall that had started in 2017 and won their twelfth national championship by a final score of 10–7 in German Bowl XLI.

Quarterfinals Semifinals German Bowl
         
N1 New Yorker Lions 70
S4 Stuttgart Scorpions 3
New Yorker Lions 36
Frankfurt Universe 18
S2 Frankfurt Universe 28
N3 Hildesheim Invaders 7
New Yorker Lions 10
Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 7
S1 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 45
N4 Berlin Rebels 24
Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 30
Dresden Monarchs 13
N2 Dresden Monarchs 39
S3 Marburg Mercenaries 22

References

  1. ↑ "GFL Spielplan – GFL". www.gfl.info (in German). Retrieved 2019-02-12.
  2. ↑ "Große Football-Bühne kehrt nach Frankfurt zurück". afvd.de (in German). AFVD. 13 October 2018. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "GFL 2018". football-aktuell.de (in German). Retrieved 7 March 2016.
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