Frankfurt Universe

The Frankfurt Universe are a German American football team from Frankfurt, Hesse.

Frankfurt Universe
Founded2007 (2007)
LeagueGerman Football League
Based inFrankfurt
StadiumFrankfurter Volksbank Stadion (Capacity 12,542)
ColorsPurple and Orange
   
OwnerAFC Universe Frankfurt e.V.
Head coachBrian Caler
ChampionshipsEFL Bowl: 2016
Division titlesGFL 2 South: 2015
CheerleadersFrankfurt Universe Cheerleaders
MascotFranky
Websitehttp://www.afc-universe.de/
Uniforms

The club, formed in 2007, won promotion to the German Football League 2, the second tier of league football in Germany, in 2011. The team rebranded itself as "Frankfurt Galaxy" ahead of the 2015 season and won promotion to the first division German Football League Süd (South) at the end of this season. It was renamed again as Frankfurt Universe in 2016.

History

Frankfurt Universe was formed in 2007, after the demise of the NFL Europa team Frankfurt Galaxy, by fans of the latter. Initially the club was hoping to use the Galaxy name but was prevented from this by the fact that the naming rights lay with the National Football League.[1][2]

The Universe entered the tier five Landesliga Hessen in 2008, finished runners-up in the league and was promoted to the Oberliga for 2009. In the Oberliga the team remained unbeaten all season and moved up to the third tier Regionalliga Mitte, where it played in 2010 and 2011. The first season saw it finish fifth with an even record while, in the second year, it finished runners-up and won promotion.[3]

From 2012 onwards the Universe played at national level in the southern division of the second tier German Football League 2. In its first two seasons the team finished runners-up behind the Allgäu Comets while, in 2014, it came third in the league.[3]

In late 2014 the club announced that it had purchased the rights for the Galaxy name, would separate the first team from the club and field it under the Galaxy name and play from 2015 onwards in the Frankfurter Volksbank Stadion, home ground of association football team FSV Frankfurt.[2][4] In the official 2015 table of the German Football League however the team is still listed as Frankfurt Universe.[5] The team won the GFL 2 south in 2015 with a perfect season and nearly 400 points Touchdown-point differential and earned promotion to the GFL after the eighth placed GFL team, the Franken Knights, withdrew from the promotion/relegation round.

Frankfurt vs Nuremberg in 2015

In April 2016, Samsung were announced as the main sponsor of German Football League team Frankfurt Universe. Frankfurt lost the season opener to defending GFL South champion Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns in 2016.

Honours

The team's honours:

German Bowl appearances

The club's appearances in the German Bowl:

BowlDate ChampionsRunners-UpScore LocationAttendance
XLOctober 13, 2018 Schwäbisch Hall UnicornsFrankfurt Universe21–19Berlin15,213
  • Champions in bold.

Eurobowl appearances

The club's appearances in the Eurobowl:

BowlDate ChampionsRunners-UpScore LocationAttendance
XXXIJune 10, 2017 New Yorker LionsFrankfurt Universe55–14Frankfurt7,693
XXXIIJune 9, 2018 New Yorker LionsFrankfurt Universe20–19Frankfurt3,122
  • Champions in bold.

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the Universe:[3]

YearDivision FinishPointsPct. GamesWDL PFPA Postseason
2012 GFL 2 (South) 2nd19–90.679 14914 284226 —
2013 2nd19–90.679 14914 358249 —
2014 3rd16–120.571 14806 289222 —
2015 1st28–01.000 141400 601204 —
2016 GFL (South) 2nd24–40.857 141202 546173 Lost QF: Kiel Baltic Hurricanes (3–10)
2017 2nd24–40.857 141202 588125 Won QF: Dresden Monarchs (26–16)
Lost SF: New Yorker Lions (21–23)
2018 2nd24–40.857 141202 504143 Won QF: Berlin Rebels (6–5)
Won SF: New Yorker Lions (20–17)
Lost GB: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (19–21)
2019 2nd22–60.786 141103 478252 Won QF: Hildesheim Invaders (28–7)
Lost SF: New Yorker Lions (18–36)
2020 No season played because of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • QF = Quarter finals
  • SF = Semi finals
  • GB = German Bowl

References
  1. Aus Universe wird Galaxy (in German) football-aktuell.de, accessed: 27 April 2015
  2. Frankfurt Galaxy vor Auferstehung Archived 2015-04-27 at Archive.today (in German) Hessischer Rundfunk, published: 4 September 2014, accessed: 27 April 2015
  3. Historical American football tables & results from Germany (in German) football-history.de, accessed: 27 April 2015
  4. Touchdowns am Bornheimer Hang Archived 2014-09-11 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Frankfurter Neue Presse, published: 10 September 2014, accessed: 27 April 2015
  5. 2015 GFL 2 table (in German) German Football League website, accessed: 27 April 2015
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