The Assindia Cardinals are an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team from

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dor ...

, Germany. Assindia is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

name for Essen. As its greatest success, the club has finished in third place in the northern division of the '' American Football Bundesliga'' in 1986, and reached the quarter finals of the national championship once, in 2009.

History

The club was formed in 1983 as the AFC Assindia Cardinals 1983 e.V.. The new club entered the tier-three ''Oberliga Nord'' for the 1984 season, where it finishes third and earned promotion to the northern division of the ''2nd Bundesliga''. Another third place in 1985 was enough to qualify for the ''American Football Bundesliga'', now the

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''American-Football-Bundesliga'' to ''German Foot ...

, as the league was expanded from 16 to 24 teams for the 1986 season. The ''Cardinals'' came third in their inaugural season at this level in group B of the northern division, the league being then subdivided into four regional divisions, which qualified the team for the play-offs. There, the

Red Barons Cologne The Red Barons Cologne were an American football team from Cologne, Germany. The club's greatest success came in 1988, when it won its sole German Bowl, followed by a losing appearance in the game in 1989. In 1991, the club disappeared from the ...

proved to strong and the team was knocked-out in a 0–18 defeat. The following four seasons, the club was unable to qualify for the play-offs again, finishing in fourth and fifth places, before a league reduction from 26 to 16 teams caused the ''Cardinals'' to lose their league spot in very similar circumstances to the way it had gained it originally. The team, instead of entering the ''2nd Bundesliga'', found itself now playing in the tier-four ''Verbandsliga NRW'' and, for the club, an era of lower division football was to follow. For the next eight seasons, the ''Cardinals'' drifted between the third and fourth tier, before a ''

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

'' championship in 1998 allowed the team to return to the second level. After only two seasons in the ''2nd Bundesliga'', the ''Cardinals'' won the northern division in this league and earned direct promotion to the GFL. Live at this level proved difficult for the side and it was never a true play-off contender. A last place in 2003 and subsequent loses to the

Düsseldorf Panther The Düsseldorf Panther are an American football team from Düsseldorf, Germany. The club is the oldest extant American football club in Europe, having been formed on 1 May 1978.Cologne Falcons The Cologne Falcons are an American football team from Cologne, Germany. The Falcons currently play most of their home games at Müngersdorf Sportpark, Ostkampfbahn. The team was founded in 1994 by former members of the Red Barons Cologne, whic ...

allowed a return to the GFL. The club made a successful comeback in the league in 2009, finishing fourth and qualifying for the play-offs for the second time in its history, where it lost to the

Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns are an American football team from Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. The club's greatest successes were winning the southern division title in the German Football League in 2009 and in every season played since 2011 (as of ...

in the quarter finals. The 2010 season saw the side back in familiar territory, finishing fifth, a point and a place above the relegation rank. The club finished last in the northern division of the GFL in 2011 and elected not to play a relegation decider against the GFL 2 runners-up. Instead, feeling unable to financially compete at the highest level, the Cardinals voluntarily accepted relegation. In 2012, the club suffered another relegation after coming last in the GFL 2 northern division. The 2013 and 2014 seasons saw the club compete in the Regionalliga West, where it came third on both occasions, followed by a league championship in 2015 which took them back to the GFL 2.

Honours

* GFL ** Play-off qualification : 1986, 2009 ** League membership : (11) 1986–1990, 2001–2003, 2009–2011 * GFL 2 ** Northern Division champions: 2000, 2008

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 18 January 2010GFL 2010
www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 18 January 2011GFL 2011
www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 18 September 2011 * PR = Promotion round * RR = Relegation round * QF = Quarter finals * SF = Semi finals

References

External links

*
Official website
*
German Football League official website
*
Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany {{Former German Football League clubs American football teams in Germany German Football League teams American football teams established in 1983 Sport in North Rhine-Westphalia Sport in Essen 1983 establishments in West Germany