Berlin Thunder
The
Berlin Thunder is a franchise in
NFL Europe, which is a springtime
American football league serving primarily as a developmental league for the
National Football League. Most of the players are young American professional players assigned by NFL teams to receive additional game experience and coaching. Coaching staffs are predominantly provided by the NFL for developmental purposes as well. American players and coaches have their living expenses paid for by the league while in Europe in addition to their salaries. They currently play their home games at
Olympic Stadium.
The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the
London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season.
The Thunder have won the
World Bowl 3 times: 2001, 2002 and 2004 (a year that they went 9-1).
They also made it to the World Bowl in 2005, but were narrowly defeated by the
Amsterdam Admirals. The final score was 27-21.
Berlin's previous two quarterbacks, Rohan Davey (2004) and Dave Ragone (2005), were each named NFL Europe Offensive MVPs. Linebacker Rich Scanlon (2005) was named NFL Europe Defensive MVP.
On
April Fools Day 2006, the Thunder recorded their very first tie in franchise history. Trailing the
Hamburg Sea Devils 17-0 at halftime, the Thunder erased their deficit to tie it up, going into overtime. Unfortunately, neither team could come up with a point in the extra period. This was only the second tie in the history of NFL Europe. The previous tie came in the 1992 season between the
Birmingham Fire and the
London Monarchs. The final score for that game was, ironically, also 17-17.
| 1999 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6th League | -- |
| 2000 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 6th League | -- |
| 2001 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2nd League | Won World Bowl IX |
| 2002 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2nd League | Won World Bowl X |
| 2003 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 6th League | -- |
| 2004 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1st League | Won World Bowl XII |
| 2005 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1st League | Lost World Bowl XIII (Admirals) |
| 2006 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 6th League | -- |
| 40 | 1 | (including playoffs)
* David Akers - K (1999) * Lang Campbell - QB (2005) * Anthony Floyd - S (2005) * Brian Waters - C/OG (2000) * Ben Hamilton - C (2002) * Rohan Davey- QB (2004) * Israel Idonije- DE (2004)* Berlin Thunder web site (German) * NFL Europe: Berlin Thunder (English)
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