Germany
Germany wins the European crown
About the Team
Germany touches down as European champions
Germany arrives at the 2009 IFAF Junior World Championship as the proud champions of Europe.The German junior national team defeated Sweden 9-6 in the final of the European Junior Championship (EJC), a biannual tournament that sent its top three nations to Canton as representatives of Europe. Germany boasts an impressive record of having been a finalist every year since the inauguration of the European Junior Championship in 2000.
In the 2008 finals in Sevilla, Spain, Germany defeated Finland 34-7, Denmark 20-7 and Austria 7-0 to top Group B to qualify for the championship game. The final game’s points did not materialize until the fourth quarter when Germany made a first down on a botched punt and then earned a slight three-point edge with a field goal. MVP Randall Pane later burst through several tackles up the middle of the field to race to the end zone and a earn Germany a 9-0 lead. Despite Sweden clawing back a touchdown, the German defense held on to claim victory.
Germany is no stranger to international competition on American shores having competed once at the NFL Global Junior Championship, a 19-and-under tournament played annually in the Super Bowl host city from 1997 to 2007. In Detroit in 2006 Germany found the going tough, suffering defeats to Mexico, Japan and Canada.
The tradition of German football success is based on a broad and vivid dedication to junior football throughout its clubs. The history of the German national junior championships dates back to 1982 and since 2001 the German Football League Juniors has held a challenging competition for the top 12 junior programs nationwide.
Many German players, who started in one of the German domestic teams, are competing on US high school teams and some have progressed to the NCAA I-A level or earned spots on NFL rosters, such as Constantin Ritzmann (Tennessee, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills) and Ulrich Winkler (Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns).
The American Football Verband Deutschland (AFVD) represents 270 American Football clubs in Germany and more than 31,000 individual members.
American Football has been played in Germany since the mid-1970s and the first national championship was organized in 1979, earlier than anywhere else in Europe.
Since then the nation's top division the German Football League, consisting of 12 teams that compete to reach the German Bowl championship game, has consistently gained recognition and acceptance within the German public. This fact was recognized by Germany's sports governing authority in 1993 when the AFVD was rewarded membership of the DOSB (German Olympic Committee).
The record attendance for the annual German Bowl is 30,400, a figure that has not been topped by any other team sports in Germany on an amateur club level. German Bowl XXX was played in September 2008 at Frankfurt's Commerzbank Arena, a new state of the art facility that was built for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Reigning champion the Braunschweig Lions defended its title to win a record seventh German championship.
German teams have enjoyed success at numerous international championships. The senior national team was a gold medalist at the 2005 World Games, European Champion in 2001 and bronze medalist at the 2007 IFAF Senior World Championship, finishing as the highest-placed European team.
Germany leads the way when it comes to success in the Eurobowl trophy, which features the top club teams from Europe; its clubs having won the prestigious competition six times.
Germany - www.afvd.de