The ERIMA German Football League (GFL) – Germany’s national American football league – is the most traditional American football league in Europe. Founded by six teams in 1979, it will consist of 16 teams in the 2025 season, eight in the ERIMA GFL North and eight in the ERIMA GFL South. The top four teams from each conference advance to the playoffs.
The ERIMA GFL is at the top of Europe’s largest league pyramid in American football. GFL 2, featuring 16 teams (also divided into North and South), forms the second tier, followed by six regional leagues with 6 to 8 teams each as the third tier. In addition, several federal states operate league play extending down to an eighth tier. Nearly 300 men’s teams typically compete from April to October, along with dozens more preparing for future league participation in development leagues. With over 73,000 individual members, Germany’s 500+ American football clubs account for roughly half of all organized American football activities in Europe.
The German men’s national team has lost only twice to a European opponent since 2005, won the gold medal at the 2005 World Games, and was the best European team at both World Championships in 2007 and 2011. Teams from the GFL have won the Eurobowl twelve times; in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018 the finals were all-German matchups, with the Berlin Adler capturing the title in 2014 and the New Yorker Lions in 2015, 2017, and 2018.