Cologne Falcons
| Founded | 1994 |
|---|---|
| League | Regionalliga West |
| Based in | Cologne, Germany |
| Stadium | Sportpark Müngersdorf, Ostkampfbahn |
| Colors | Black, Red and Gold |
| President | Oliver Over |
| Head coach | Martin Hanselmann |
| Championships | Junior Bowl: 2011, 2012 |
| Mascot | Captain Falcon |
| Website | www.cologne-falcons.de |
The Cologne Falcons are an American football team from Cologne, Germany. 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, which went defunct in 1991. Initially, the club stood in the shadow of the much more successful Cologne Crocodiles, 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, before being relegated in 2008. In 2006, they made their only playoff-off appearance, but lost against the Marburg Mercenaries 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, 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. 2014 the Cologne Falcons finished third in the league and were qualifyied for the play-offs, but lost in the semifinals to New Yorker Lions who won the 2014 Championship afterwards.
In 1994, former members of the Red Barons Cologne, 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 weren't 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. 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 highest tier in German American Football.
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