The Frankfurt Universe, which is part of AFC Universe Frankfurt, are a German American football team from Frankfurt, Hesse.
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.Aus Universe wird Galaxy football-aktuell.de, accessed: 27 April 2015Frankfurt Galaxy vor Auferstehung Hessischer Rundfunk, published: 4 September 2014, accessed: 27 April 2015
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.Historical American football tables & results from Germany football-history.de, accessed: 27 April 2015
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.
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.Touchdowns am Bornheimer Hang Frankfurter Neue Presse, published: 10 September 2014, accessed: 27 April 2015 In the official 2015 table of the German Football League however the team is still listed as Frankfurt Universe.2015 GFL 2 table German Football League website, accessed: 27 April 2015 The team won the GFL2 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.
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 Runners-up: 2018 Eurobowl Runners-up: (2) 2017, 2018 EFL Bowl Champions: 2016 BIG6 European Football League Participations: (2) 2017, 2018 German Football League – Southern Division Runners-up: (4) 2016–2019 League membership: (6) 2016–2022 German Football League 2 – Southern Division Champions: 2015 Runners-up: 2012, 2013
German Bowl appearances The club's appearances in the German Bowl: Bowl Date Champions Runners-Up Score Location Attendance XL October 13, 2018 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns Frankfurt Universe 21–19 Berlin 15,213 Champions in bold.
Eurobowl appearances The club's appearances in the Eurobowl:
Bowl Date Champions Runners-Up Score Location Attendance XXXI June 10, 2017 New Yorker Lions Frankfurt Universe 55–14 Frankfurt 7,693 XXXII June 9, 2018 New Yorker Lions Frankfurt Universe 20–19 Frankfurt 3,122 Champions in bold.
Recent seasons Recent seasons of the Universe: Year Division Finish Points Pct. Games W D L PF PA Postseason 2012 GFL2 (South) 2nd 19–9 0.679 14 9 1 4 284 226 — 2013 2nd 19–9 0.679 14 9 1 4 358 249 — 2014 3rd 16–12 0.571 14 8 0 6 289 222 — 2015 1st 28–0 1.000 14 14 0 0 601 204 — 2016 GFL (South) 2nd 24–4 0.857 14 12 0 2 546 173 Lost QF: Kiel Baltic Hurricanes (3–10) 2017 2nd 24–4 0.857 14 12 0 2 588 125 Won QF: Dresden Monarchs (26–16) Lost SF: New Yorker Lions (21–23) 2018 2nd 24–4 0.857 14 12 0 2 504 143 Won QF: Berlin Rebels (6–5) Won SF: New Yorker Lions (20–17) Lost GB: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (19–21) 2019 2nd 22–6 0.786 14 11 0 3 478 252 Won QF: Hildesheim Invaders (28–7) Lost SF: New Yorker Lions (18–36) 2020 No season played because of the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 7th 4–16 0.200 10 2 0 8 117 496 — 2022 8th 0–20 0.000 10 0 0 10 124 556 Lost RR: Ingolstadt Dukes (withdrawal) 2023 GFL2 (South) 6th 8–12 0.400 10 4 – 6 227 313 —
RR = Relegation round QF = Quarter finals SF = Semi finals GB = German Bowl
References
External links Official website Frankfurt Galaxy website German Football League official website Football History Historic American football tables from Germany