Stuttgart Scorpions


The Stuttgart Scorpions are an American football team from Stuttgart, Germany. The club's greatest success came in 2007, when it reached the German Bowl but lost to the Braunschweig Lions.

History

The Stuttgart Scorpions were formed in December 1982. The new club spent its first couple of seasons in the 2nd Bundesliga, now the German Football League 2, where it played until 1985.
The club, after having earned promotion, spent the 1986 and 1987 season in the central division of the American Football Bundesliga, now the German Football League, but was only able to win one game in two years and found itself relegated back to the second tier for 1988. At this league, the team once more was a top performer and won two division titles in 1990 and 1991, with the later also earning promotion to the Bundesliga once more.
The Scorpions once more struggled at top level and were immediately relegated again. After coming second in 1993 and winning its division the following year, the Scorpions were able to defeat the Franken Knights 47–0 in the promotion round and moved up for a third time in their history.
The club was now much improved at the top level and reached the quarter finals in its first two seasons back, 1995 and 1996. After a difficult 1997 season, when survival was only assured in the relegation round against the Saarland Hurricanes, the Scorpions would finally be able to deliver constant top-level performances. From 1998 onwards, the team was to reach the play-offs every season.
The Stuttgart Scorpions won the southern division of the Bundesliga in 1998 and were able to reach the semi finals of the German championship for the first time. In 2001, 2002 and 2006, this play-off performance was repeated, in between, the club was knocked out in the semi finals. The 2007 season was to be the club's best-ever, first winning the southern division of the GFL for only the second time and then progressing all the way to the German Bowl. In this game, the Scorpions were defeated 27–6 by the Braunschweig Lions, despite playing at home in Stuttgart.
Since then, the team's performances have fallen off, only being able to reach the quarter finals of the championship in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2011, the side finished third in its division, qualifying for the play-offs once more, where they lost to the Mönchengladbach Mavericks.
In 2012, the club came fourth in the southern division of the GFL and qualified for the play-off where it was knocked out by Kiel Baltic Hurricanes in the quarter finals. After 15 consecutive play-off qualifications the club came only sixth in 2013 and missed the finals for the first time since 1997.
In 2014, the club finished second in the southern division of the GFL but lost 28–33 to the Cologne Falcons in the quarter finals of the play-offs. After a third-place finish in 2015 the club lost to the Dresden Monarchs in the quarter finals of the play-offs.

Honours

The club has only appeared once in the German Bowl:
BowlDateChampionsRunners-UpScoreLocationAttendance
XXIXOctober 6, 2007Braunschweig LionsStuttgart Scorpions27–6Stuttgart8,152

Recent seasons of the Scorpions:
YearDivisionFinishPointsPct.GamesWDLPFPAPostseason
2005GFL 3rd10–100.50010505353343Lost QF: Hamburg Blue Devils
2006GFL 2nd17–70.70812813407190Won QF: Dresden Monarchs Lost SF: Braunschweig Lions
2007GFL 1st20–40.833121002390144Won QF: Hamburg Blue Devils Won SF: Berlin Adler Lost GB: Braunschweig Lions
2008GFL 2nd16–80.66712804302195Lost QF: Berlin Adler
2009GFL 3rd11–130.45812516331302Lost QF: Kiel Baltic Hurricanes
2010GFL 4th8–160.33312408228280Lost QF: Kiel Baltic Hurricanes
2011GFL 3rd15–110.57713715316335Lost QF: Mönchengladbach Mavericks
2012GFL 4th18–100.64314824344271Lost QF: Kiel Baltic Hurricanes
2013GFL 6th9–190.32114419272430—
2014GFL 2nd24–40.857141202560477Lost QF: Cologne Falcons
2015GFL 3rd20–80.714141004429342Lost QF: Dresden Monarchs
2016GFL 5th14–140.50014707474387—
2017GFL 6th8–200.286144010227403—
2018GFL 8th4–240.143142012226486Won RR: Ravensburg Razorbacks
2019GFL 4th12–160.42914608328473Lost QF: New Yorker Lions