The Maastricht Wildcats (formerly called the Limburg Wildcats) of the AFBN (

American Football Bond Nederland The American Football Bond Nederland (AFBN) is the governing body for American Football in the Netherlands. The AFBN was founded 1984 and refounded in 2001 after the merger of the rival leagues Nederlandse American Football Federatie (NAFF) and A ...

) 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 wi ...

League team from

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

. They play in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

1st division and are rivals to the

Amsterdam Crusaders The Amsterdam Crusaders are an American Football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands. Together with the Rotterdam Trojans and Alphen Eagles, Amsterdam Crusaders are the oldest surviving Dutch American Football club. Beginnings The Crusaders start ...

. They won the 2007 Dutch National Championship by defeating the

25-16 in the

Tulip Bowl The Tulip Bowl is the final match in the season of the AFBN Division One, the top division of the American Football Bond Nederland (AFBN). The AFBN is the organisation responsible for American football in the Netherlands. The Tulip Bowl participa ...

. In 2004, the Wildcats, coached by Mel Crandall, won the 3rd Division Championship and advanced to the 2nd division. Then, in the 2005 season, they won the 2nd division championship and advanced to the 1st division. In 2007, their player/Head Coach was Jon Horton, formerly of the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. Many of the current and past players of the Maastricht Wildcats are U.S. Military members, former American high school and collegiate players now stationed in the neighboring areas, and former

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 ...

players. The Maastricht Wildcats won the Dutch National Championships on October 28th, 2007 by defeating the Amsterdam Crusaders, who had won the national title five times in a row, with a score of 25-16. However, on July 13, 2008, the

exacted revenge and regained the

with a score of 20-8. Despite posting a 9-1 regular season record and losing only to

, Maastricht's 2009 season fell flat as they were shocked 10-7 in the semi-final game by

Lightning Leiden Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

. Another strong regular season in 2010 saw the Wildcats post an 8-2 record, losing only to

and

Alphen Eagles Alphen may refer to: Places Netherlands *Alphen, Gelderland, a village in the municipality West Maas en Waal (province of Gelderland) *Alphen, North Brabant, a village in the municipality Alphen-Chaam (province of North Brabant) * Alphen, South Ho ...

. This time, Maastricht took care of business in the playoff game, dismissing the Amsterdam Panthers 44-20. Despite coming back strongly in the

, the Wildcats were not quite able to overturn a 22-point first-half deficit, eventually losing the championship game 28-22 to rivals the

External links

* {{Maastricht American football teams in the Netherlands Sport in Maastricht