The German Bowl is the annual national championship game in the sport of American football in Germany. It is contested by the two best teams of the German Football League. The New Yorker Lions, from Braunschweig, are the record winners of the German Bowl, with 12 successful participations out of 18 overall. The Düsseldorf Panther and the Berlin Adler both have six titles to their name, but Berlin has the best win–loss record of all clubs, 75 percent. Altogether, as of 2021, twelve clubs have won a German Bowl, while a further four clubs have reached the German Bowl once but lost their sole appearance (Stuttgart Scorpions, Badener Greifs, Marburg Mercenaries and Frankfurt Universe). The most-played match up in the history of the game is the Braunschweig Lions versus the Hamburg Blue Devils, having been played six times, last in 2005. The matchup between the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns and the New Yorker Lions has occurred five times - all in the span from 2014 to 2019. German Bowl XIX to German Bowl XXX (inclusive) all had appearances by the Braunschweig Lions (later to be renamed for sponsorship reasons to "New Yorker Lions") for twelve consecutive appearances over the space of over a decade. Apart from the German Bowl, a Junior Bowl has also been contested in Germany since 1982. A Ladies Bowl was introduced in 1990. Other, related, national championship games in Germany include the German Flag Bowl (est. 2000), German Junior Flag Bowl (1999) and a German Indoor Flag Bowl (2000). History In 1979, the American Football Bundesliga, later to be renamed the German Football League, was formed, consisting of six clubs, the Frankfurter Löwen, Ansbach Grizzlies, Düsseldorf Panther, Munich Cowboys, Berlin Bears and Bremerhaven Seahawks. Of those six, the top two teams would contest the first ever German Bowl on 10 November 1979. The early years of the league were dominated by two teams, Frankfurt and Ansbach, who met each other in the first three editions of the German Bowl. Of those, Frankfurt won the first two and Ansbach the last. The era of the Frankfurter Löwen came to an end soon afterwards and the club went defunct in the mid-1980s, while the Ansbach Grizzlies continued to be an outstanding team, playing in all of the first eight German Bowls. Unlike the first season, play-off semi-finals were played in 1980 and 1981 to determine the two German Bowl