The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994).

The game was conceived as the final of the NFL-related spring league, the World League. The first World Bowl was played in 1991 in London. With the 1995 relaunch of the World League with the North American teams removed, all subsequent World Bowls were played in Europe between European clubs. The only World Bowl to take place outside Europe was World Bowl '92 in Montreal, Canada.

The World Bowl trophy was a globe made of glass measuring 35.5 cm (14 inches) in diameter and weighing 18.6 kg (41 lbs).

Overview

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When the World League of American Football (WLAF) was founded in 1991, with teams in North America and Europe as well as expansion plans for Asia, the name World Bowl was appropriate. The name was kept after 1995 when the league limited itself exclusively to Europe.

From 1995 to 1997, the World Bowl venue was decided by the standings after five weeks of the 10-week season. In other years, the sites were predetermined before the season. The 2002 World Bowl was hosted in Rhein Fire's hometown of Düsseldorf as a farewell to the old Rheinstadion. After the new LTU Arena (now Merkur Spiel-Arena) was completed, the 2005 World Bowl was hosted there again. It would return in 2006, the first time that the game was played in the same site in consecutive years. As the city's Fortuna Düsseldorf team spent much of this time in lower tiers of the German soccer pyramid, Düsseldorf was the rare NFL Europe city in which American football held an arguably competitive position.

Nine World Bowls were played on Saturdays and six World Bowls were played on Sundays (1991, 1996–1999, 2000).

World Bowl (WLAF, NFL Europe, and NFL Europa Championships)

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Date Venue Winner Score Runner-Up Attendance MVP
June 9, 1991 World Bowl '91 Wembley Stadium, London, United Kingdom   London Monarchs 21 – 0   Barcelona Dragons 61,108 Dan Crossman
Monarchs, Safety
June 6, 1992 World Bowl '92 Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Canada   Sacramento Surge 21 – 17   Orlando Thunder 43,789 David Archer
Surge, QB
1993 League suspended
1994
June 17, 1995 World Bowl '95 Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands   Frankfurt Galaxy 26 – 22   Amsterdam Admirals 23,847 Paul Justin
Galaxy, QB
June 23, 1996 World Bowl '96 Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, United Kingdom   Scottish Claymores 32 – 27   Frankfurt Galaxy 38,982 Yo Murphy
Claymores, WR
June 22, 1997 World Bowl '97 Estadi Olimpic, Barcelona, Spain   Barcelona Dragons 38 – 24   Rhein Fire 31,100 Jon Kitna
Dragons, QB
June 14, 1998 World Bowl '98 Waldstadion, Frankfurt, Germany   Rhein Fire 34 – 10   Frankfurt Galaxy 47,846 Jim Arellanes
Fire, QB
June 27, 1999 World Bowl '99 Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, Germany   Frankfurt Galaxy 38 – 24   Barcelona Dragons 39,643 Andy McCullough
Galaxy, WR
June 25, 2000 World Bowl 2000 Waldstadion, Frankfurt, Germany   Rhein Fire 13 – 10   Scottish Claymores 35,860 Aaron Stecker
Claymores, RB
June 30, 2001 World Bowl IX Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands   Berlin Thunder 24 – 17   Barcelona Dragons 32,116 Jonathan Quinn
Thunder, QB
June 22, 2002 World Bowl X Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, Germany   Berlin Thunder 26 – 20   Rhein Fire 53,109 Dane Looker
Thunder, WR
June 14, 2003 World Bowl XI Hampden Park, Glasgow, United Kingdom   Frankfurt Galaxy 35 – 16   Rhein Fire 28,138 Jonas Lewis
Galaxy, RB
June 12, 2004 World Bowl XII Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, Germany   Berlin Thunder 30 – 24   Frankfurt Galaxy 35,413 Eric McCoo
Thunder, RB
June 11, 2005 World Bowl XIII LTU arena, Düsseldorf, Germany   Amsterdam Admirals 27 – 21   Berlin Thunder 35,134 Kurt Kittner
Admirals, QB
May 27, 2006 World Bowl XIV LTU arena, Düsseldorf, Germany   Frankfurt Galaxy 22 – 7   Amsterdam Admirals 36,286 Butchie Wallace
Galaxy, RB
June 23, 2007 World Bowl XV Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt, Germany   Hamburg Sea Devils 37 – 28   Frankfurt Galaxy 48,125 Casey Bramlet
Sea Devils, QB
  • Note: Roman numerals were not officially used by NFL Europe until World Bowl IX. Before 2001, the games were titled with the current year, such as World Bowl 2000.

Team records

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Team Won Played Winning years Runner-up years
  Frankfurt Galaxy 4 8 1995, 1999, 2003, 2006 1996, 1998, 2004, 2007
  Berlin Thunder 3 4 2001, 2002, 2004 2005
  Rhein Fire 2 5 1998, 2000 1997, 2002, 2003
  Barcelona Dragons 1 4 1997 1991, 1999, 2001
  Amsterdam Admirals 1 3 2005 1995, 2006
  Scottish Claymores 1 2 1996 2000
  Hamburg Sea Devils 1 1 2007
  London Monarchs 1 1 1991
  Sacramento Surge 1 1 1992
  Orlando Thunder 0 1 1992
  Cologne Centurions 0 0
  Birmingham Fire 0 0
  San Antonio Riders 0 0
  Montreal Machine 0 0
  New York/New Jersey Knights 0 0
  Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks 0 0
  Ohio Glory 0 0

Results by country

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Team Won Played
  Germany 10 18
  United Kingdom 2 3
  Catalunya 1 4
  Netherlands 1 3
  United States 1 2
  Canada 0 0

Hosting cities

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City No. hosted Years hosted
Düsseldorf 4 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006
Frankfurt 3 1998, 2000, 2007
Amsterdam 2 1995, 2001
London 1 1991
Montreal 1 1992
Edinburgh 1 1996
Barcelona 1 1997
Glasgow 1 2003
Gelsenkirchen 1 2004

While the Olympic stadiums in Montreal, Amsterdam and Barcelona hosted World Bowls, the league never selected Berlin as a host town, though the city's Thunder played in the Olympiastadion from 2003 to 2007.

Other uses of "World Bowl"

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The former World Football League, a short-lived 1970s competitor to the NFL, was the first to name its championship game the World Bowl. In World Bowl I, the only WFL World Bowl contested, the Birmingham Americans defeated the Florida Blazers 22–21 on December 5, 1974, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The game had been scheduled to be played at the Gator Bowl Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, but after the Jacksonville Sharks folded mid-season, the league decided that the team with the better record would host the game.

The proposed World Indoor Football League that was to begin play in 1988 also intended on calling its championship the World Bowl. It would have been played on August 29, 1988. However, the WIFL disbanded 11 days before its season was to begin.

See also

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References

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