The Paderborn Dolphins are an

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

team from

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The club's greatest success has been promotion, in 1997, to the American football Bundesliga, now the

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is a professional American football league in Germany. The league was formed in 1979. In 1999, the league changed to its current name from American-Football-Bundesliga.

, where it played for two seasons until 1999. After winning the GFL2 North in 2022, the Dolphins will return to the top level of Germany in 2023 the

for the first time since 1999.

History

The Dolphins entered league football in 1992 when they joined the tier-four Verbandsliga. The club spent two seasons at this level before earning promotion to the

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

, where it played until 1995. After promotion from the Regionalliga to the 2nd Bundesliga the Dolphins finished sixth in the league in 1996 before winning its division in 1997 led by USA Import quarterback Bradly Strohm. In the promotion round the club defeated Bundesliga foundation club

Berlin Adler The Berlin Adler () is an American football club based in Berlin, Germany. The club is one of the most successful clubs in the sport in Germany, having won six German Bowls as well as ten ''Ladies Bowls'' and five ''Junior Bowls''. International ...

, ending the latter's nineteen-season stint in the league since 1979. In the Bundesliga the Dolphins' sole victory in the 1998 season came away at the Stuttgart Scorpions in an interconference match but the club defended its league place in the relegation round against 2. Bundesliga club

Berlin Rebels The Berlin Rebels are an American football team from Berlin, Germany. The team is playing in the German Football League, the highest level of American football in Germany. In the most recent seasons the Rebels managed to qualify for the play-off ...

. The season after, playing as AFC Paderborn, the club's results were stricken from the table after it found itself unable to complete its fixtures and was consequently relegated. The club, again as the Dolphins, returned to the tier-three Regionalliga from 2000 onwards, playing the next three seasons at that level. At the end of the 2002 season it withdrew from league football and restarted again in the Verbandsliga in 2004. Two unbeaten seasons in 2004 and 2005 took the team back to the Regionalliga, where it played for the next nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It won league championships at this level in 2008 and 2014, remaining unbeaten on both occasions. In 2008 it missed out on promotion when it lost to the Hildesheim Invaders in the promotion round but, in 2014, a draw against the Osnabrück Tigers followed by victory over the Potsdam Royals took the club back to the second tier after a fourteen-year absence. In 2015, the team finished third in the

German Football League 2 The German Football League 2 (GFL2) is the second tier of American football in Germany, below the German Football League. Until 2007, the league was known as the ''2. Bundesliga''. League structure The ''GFL2'', formerly the ''2. Bundesliga'', wh ...

, the former 2nd Bundesliga.

Honours

** League membership: (3) 1998–1999, 2023 *

** Northern division champions: 1997, 2022

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 23 September 20153. Liga (Regionalliga) tables & results
football-aktuell.de, accessed: 23 September 2015 * RR = Relegation round * PR = Promotion round * QF = Quarter finals * SF = Semi finals

References

External links

* {{German Football League clubs American football teams in Germany German Football League teams American football teams established in 1991 1991 establishments in Germany

Dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...