Frankfurter Löwen
The Frankfurt Lions are a former American football club from Frankfurt am Main, the first German football team and co-founder of the Football League, the present-day GFL.
History
The history of the Frankfurt Lions is closely connected with the history of German football. Football is indeed played on German soil since the Second World War, but only by teams of U.S. barracks.
In 1977, Alexander Sperber and Wolfgang Lehneis founded the first German football club with the Frankfurt Lions. The club also many Americans played with from the then numerous Frankfurt barracks. First games were carried out exclusively against teams in the barracks until 1978 with the still existing Dusseldorf Panthers started the second German football team.
In 1979, the " American Football Confederation Germany ", one of the predecessors of today's AFVD, founded and the first Bundesliga season was held. Participants were: Frankfurt Lions, Dusseldorf Panther, Munich Cowboys, Ansbach Grizzlies, Bremerhaven Seahawks and Berlin Bear.
In the first playoff ( now known as German Bowl) of the German Football History won the Lions on November 10, 1979, 14:8 against the Ansbach Grizzlies. In the final, 1980, the lions were also against the Grizzlies with 21:12 German champion and 1981 runner-up with a 6:27 against the Ansbach Grizzlies. As gradually the number of Americans who were allowed to be at the same time on the field per team was reduced from 6 to 2 could unlock the other German teams.
In the years 1982 and 1983, the Frankfurt Lions reached only the quarterfinals.
In 1984, the Frankfurt Lions were the last time officially in appearance. They reached the quarter- finals of the German Cup and emerged after the defeat on any heading more to list.
After a vigorous and organizational decline of the lion some motivated players and did not want to tick off the football in Frankfurt and tried to bring the Lions back on track. During the year 1985, however, showed that too many entrenched opinions exist and a continuation of the association according to the ideas of the new generation was impossible.
In December, then met former players and officials of the lion and decided to form a new association, the Frankfurt Gamblers.
Achievements
- German Champion: 1979 and 1980
- German runner-up: 1981
- Participation quarterfinal: 1982, 1983 and 1984
- German Football Team
- Sports Club (Frankfurt am Main )