Darmstadt Diamonds
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| Founded | 1985 |
|---|---|
| League | Regionalliga Mitte |
| Based in | Darmstadt, Germany |
| Arena | Stadion am Böllenfalltor |
| Colors | Blue and White |
| President | Karl-Heinz-Isselmann |
| Head coach | Alexander Marquardt |
| Championships | Junior Bowl: 1995, 2001 |
| Division titles | none |
| Website | www.darmstadt-diamonds.de |
The Darmstadt Diamonds are an American football team from Darmstadt, Germany.
The club has spent six seasons in the German Football League, the GFL, from 1990 to 1992 and again from 2006 to 2008, reaching the play-offs on two occasions. The Diamonds have had much greater success at junior level, having won the German Junior Bowl on two occasions.
The club was formed in September 1985.
The Diamonds entered league football in 1986, joining the Regionalliga Mitte, followed by joining the Verbandsliga Hessen in 1988. After league championships in 1987 and 1988 the side achieved promotion to the 2nd American Football Bundesliga, now the GFL 2, where it played in the now defunct central division.
After winning its division in its first season in the league, Darmstadt earned promotion to the American Football Bundesliga, the predecessor of the GFL, for 1990. The club came second in its division in its first season and qualified for the play-offs but lost to the Noris Rams in the opening round. The club declined after this first season and, by 1992, was relegated again.
The next four seasons were spend in the 2nd Bundesliga again, where the Diamonds did not come close to promotion again but instead was relegated in 1996. The club was now back in the Regionalliga Mitte for three seasons, where it had started a decade before but managed to win the league in 1999 and earned the right to return to the second tier.
In the next six seasons, Darmstadt's performance varied greatly but culminated in a division title in 2005 that allowed it to return to Germany's highest league, now renamed GFL, for a second stint. Once more it showed its best performance in its first season there, finishing fourth and qualifying for the play-offs once more. In the first round the club was drawn against the Braunschweig Lions, the most dominating club in league history, and lost 79–0. In its next two GFL seasons, the club only won one game all up, against the Saarland Hurricanes in 2007, which saved the Diamonds from relegation that year. In 2008, the side performed even worse, losing eleven out of twelve games and only drawing once, against the Cologne Falcons. Darmstadt had to face the Plattling Black Hawks in the promotion-relegation round and lost both games there, too, condemning the club to relegation.
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