Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns
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| Founded | 1983 |
|---|---|
| League | German Football League |
| Based in | Schwäbisch Hall, Germany |
| Stadium | Optima Sportpark |
| Colors | Green and White |
| President | Jürgen Gehrke |
| Head coach | Siegfried Gehrke |
| Championships | German Bowl: 2011, 2012 |
| Division titles | GFL South: 2009, 2011–2016 |
| Cheerleaders | UNIXX |
| Mascot | Corny |
| Website | www.unicorns.de/cms/index.php |
The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns are an American football team from Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.
The club's greatest successes were winning the southern division title in the German Football League in 2009, and every year from 2011 to 2016, followed up by winning the German Bowl in 2011 and 2012. The club also made two losing appearances in the German Bowl, suffering defeat by record champion Braunschweig Lions in 2014 and 2015.
Previously, the only appearance in a national championship game the club has made was in 1997, when it lost the Junior Bowl to the youth team of the Berlin Adler.
The club was founded on 9 November 1983, as the American football department of the TSG Schwäbisch Hall, which is still, as of 2014, the mother club of the Unicorns.
In the following year, the team entered in the central division of the 2nd Bundesliga, the second tier of American football in Germany, now the German Football League 2. At this level, the club quickly acclimatised, winning its division in 1986 and 1987. In 1986, the Stuttgart Scorpions were still the stronger side in the promotion round, winning both games and baring the Unicorns from moving one level up, but the year after the club managed to take up the Scorpions place in the American Football Bundesliga.
The team played at this level for the next three seasons, without ever qualifying for the postseason, before losing its league place in 1990 when the league was reduced from 26 to 16 clubs. The Unicorns found themselves back in the 2nd Bundesliga for the next three seasons, before suffering further relegation.
The side's absolute low came in 1995, when it had dropped to the tier-four Oberliga Baden Württemberg, but it quickly recovered, winning the league that season and earning promotion to the third tier. After another title, now in the Regionalliga Mitte, the team returned to the 2nd Bundesliga once more for the 1997 season.
In four seasons at this level, the team finished in the top four each year, culminating in a second place in 2000, which allowed the side to move up again because of two clubs withdrawing from the GFL. For the next seven seasons, the Unicorns reached the play-offs each year, with a semi final appearance in 2005, where it lost to the Braunschweig Lions, as its best result.
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