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 wit ...
team from
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. 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
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 t ...
, which went defunct in 1991. Initially, the club stood in the shadow of the much more successful
Cologne Crocodiles
The Cologne Crocodiles are an American football team from Cologne, Germany.
The club's greatest success came in 2000, when it won the German Bowl for the first and, so far, only time. Prior to this, the club had made five losing appearances in ...
, but after the Crocodiles went bankrupt in 2003, the Falcons managed to become the dominant football club in Cologne. From 2005 on, the team played in 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 ...
, before being relegated in 2008. In 2006, they made their only playoff-off appearance, but lost against the
Marburg Mercenaries
The Marburg Mercenaries are an American football team from Marburg, Germany.
Internationally, the club's greatest success came in 2005, when it won the EFAF Cup, followed by a losing appearance in the Eurobowl in 2007. Domestically, the team's ...
in the first round.
In more recent years, the Falcons struggled in their performances and in 2010 and 2011, the finished sixth in the GFL 2, before finishing the 2012 season as first in the league and winning the following relegation game against the
Lübeck Cougars
The Lübeck Cougars are an American football team from Lübeck, Germany.
The club had its greatest success in 2012 when it played in the German Football League for a season.
History
The club was formed in 1987 out of the members of an earlier Am ...
, thus being promoted to the GFL again for the 2013 season. While achieving success with the senior team, the youth department of the Falcons was also able gain attention by winning the 2011 and 2012
German Junior Bowl
The German Junior Bowl, usually only referred to as ''Junior Bowl'', is the annual national championship game for junior teams in the sport of American football in Germany. It is contested by the two best teams of the GFL Juniors.
It is the seco ...
. 2014 the Cologne Falcons finished third in the league and were qualified for the play-offs, but lost in the semifinals to New Yorker Lions who won the 2014 Championship afterwards.
History
In 1994, former members of 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 t ...
, a Cologne-based football club that existed from 1981 to 1991, gathered to found the Cologne Falcons. One year later, the team competed in league football for the first time, starting in the sixth tier Landesliga North Rhine-Westphalia. After three seasons there, the Falcons joint the Verbandsliga. The first year in the league were not very successful for the club, but this changed from 2000. After winning the championship in the Verbandsliga and the following promotion, the team entered the Oberliga and managed to win the championship there in the 2001 season, thus being promoted to the Regionalliga West.
The clubs progress was temporarily halted in 2002 when it came only sixth in the
Regionalliga
The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the fourt ...
. In the 2003 season, the team managed to win the league and move up to the 2nd Bundesliga. In its first season in the second league, the club won the Northern Conference and consequently was being promoted to the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...
, the highest tier in German American Football.
The 2005 season did not bring much success for the Falcons, as the team finished the league fifth in the Northern Conference, only evading relegation by leaving 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. A year later, the team managed to come fourth in the league, thus reaching the play-offs for the first time in the club's history. However, they lost their first game round against the
Marburg Mercenaries
The Marburg Mercenaries are an American football team from Marburg, Germany.
Internationally, the club's greatest success came in 2005, when it won the EFAF Cup, followed by a losing appearance in the Eurobowl in 2007. Domestically, the team's ...
with 0–62.
The following 2007 season again was not very successful for the team. They finished fifth, only winning one game against the
Dresden Monarchs
The Dresden Monarchs are an American football team from Dresden, Germany. They have been a member of the first tier German Football League since 2002 and play in its Northern Division. They are the reigning champion after having won German Bowl X ...
. The decline of the Falcons was continued in the 2008 season, when the team finished last in the Northern Conference and lost the following relegation games against the
Assindia Cardinals
The Assindia Cardinals are an American football team from Essen, Germany. Assindia is the Latin name for Essen.
As its greatest success, the club has finished in third place in the northern division of the ''American Football Bundesliga'' in ...
.
After a good 2009 season when the team came second in the league the ''Falcons'' declined, coming sixth in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, the club was able to win the northern division of the GFL 2, earning the right to play last placed GFL team
Lübeck Cougars
The Lübeck Cougars are an American football team from Lübeck, Germany.
The club had its greatest success in 2012 when it played in the German Football League for a season.
History
The club was formed in 1987 out of the members of an earlier Am ...
for a place in the GFL in 2013. After losing the home game 36–42 the Falcons won in
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
37–10 and earned promotion.
Prior to the 2012 season, the Falcons underwent a major change. The club was rebranded as ''AFC Köln Falcons'', dropping the English version of
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
from its name and adopting the German version. Furthermore, the team emblem was changed and the club presented new shirts, but a year later the club returned to its old name.
The 2013 season saw the club come last in its division but narrowly defend its league membership in the relegation round against the Bielefeld Bulldogs. In the following year the club fared much better. Martin Hanselmann who signed in the middle of the season 2013 continued as the head coach in 2014. 2014 the Cologne Falcons finished third in the league and were qualified for the play-offs. They defeated the Stuttgart Scorpions 33–28 in the quarter finals, but lost in the semifinals to New Yorker Lions who won the 2014 Championship afterwards. Corresponding to the most successful season in Cologne Falcons' history, the club celebrated its 25th anniversary. By the end of the current season the Cologne Falcons became sixth place in Europe's Top 20.
In March 2015, one month before the start of the new season the Falcons informed the GFL that they were financially unable to compete in the GFL in 2015, thereby withdrawing from the league, instead competing in the tier four Oberliga Nordrhein-Westfalen in 2015, which the club won, earning promotion to the
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 ...
.
Facilities
Stadiums
As of 2012, the first team of the Falcons plays most of their games at the Südstadion, located in the Kölner Neustadt-Süd. The stadium has a capacity of 12,000 people Stadionführer.de, accessed: October 11, 2012 and is shared with
SC Fortuna Köln
SC Fortuna Köln is a German association football club based in the city of Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia.
History
The club was formed as on 21 February 1948 through the merger of three local sides: Victoria Köln 1911 (one of two clubs to ...
, a soccer club currently playing in the
Fußball-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 ...
. Unlike the first squad, the second team and the youth teams all play at the Ostkampfbahn, which is the training ground for all Falcons teams. Since 2013 the Ostkampfbahn is the home of all Falcons including the GFL-Team.
Training
The Falcons practice at the Ostkampfbahn, a small football field located in the
Sülz
Sülz (; ) is a municipal part of Cologne, Germany and part of the district of Lindenthal. Sülz lies on Luxemburger Straße between Lindenthal and Klettenberg. Sülz has 35.475 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2008) and covers an area of 5,17& ...
1. FC Köln
1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballsp ...
, the cities most famous and successful soccer club.