German Knights 1367 Niedersachsen
The German Knights 1367 Niedersachsen were a planned American football team based in Hannover and Hildesheim, Germany, as one of the eight teams for the initial 2021 season of the European League of Football (ELF). On 22 March 2021, the franchise and the league announced that the team would not participate in the league.
History[edit | edit source]
Establishment[edit | edit source]
Hannover and nearby Hildesheim were announced as one of the franchise locations in the very first announcements of the creation of the European League of Football. Frank Meyer, the owner of the franchise, was initially part of the consortium which founded the European League of Football GmbH. He was also sponsor of the Hildesheim Invaders, which played in the German Football League GFL since 2016.
No final statement was published about where the team would play its home games. At least some of the games were planned to be in the 44.000 seater Niedersachsenstadion (HDI Arena at that time) in Hannover.[1]
Name and staff[edit | edit source]
The name German Knights and the logo were published in December 2020.[2] The name refers to the Battle of Dinklar, in which knights from Hildesheim and Hannover fought together against the House of Welf.
The coaching staff included Shuan Fatah as Head coach and Lee Rowland as Offensive Coordinator, who both were signed by the Hildesheim Invaders for the later cancelled 2020 GFL season. Linebacker Coach was Henry Schlegel. General Manager of the German Knights was Chris Heyne, previously Marketing Director and General Manager of Frankfurt Galaxy in the NFL Europe.[3]
Several players were committed to the German Knights. The first announcements included Wide Receiver Anthony Dable-Wolf[4] and Punter Jacob Templar.[5] Both played for the Hildesheim Invaders before.
End[edit | edit source]
The ELF GmbH and the franchise could not conclude a franchise agreement and ended the negotiations in March 2021, less than three months before the 2021 season start.[6] Frank Meyer subsequently left the ELF GmbH investors consortium.
Aftermath[edit | edit source]
The German Knights, and the Ingolstadt Praetorions, which also did not sign a franchise agreement, were replaced by the Cologne Centurions and the Leipzig Kings. The Kings signed several German Knights players, including Dable-Wolf and Templar. QB Strong was signed by the Centurions.[7]
Coaches Fatah, Rowland, and Schlegel coached the Berlin Adler in the GFL2. Schlegel and Rowland moved to Berlin Thunder in 2022, and 2024 respectively. Fatah returned to the ELF for the 2025 season as HC of Hamburg Sea Devils.
The Hamburg Sea Devils played two games in Hannover during their "nordic tour" in the 2024 season.
Players[edit | edit source]
| Player | Position | Team 2020 | Team 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Strong | QB | Hildesheim Invaders | Cologne Centurions |
| Anthony Dablé-Wolf | WR | Hildesheim Invaders | Leipzig Kings |
| Nate Morris | WR | ||
| Jaleel Awini | WR | Leipzig Kings | |
| Timothy Knüttel | WR | Potsdam Royals | Leipzig Kings |
| Montel Patterson | WR | ||
| Yannik Rohrschneider 🇩🇪 | OL | Hildesheim Invaders | Berlin Adler (GFL) |
| Patrick Poetsch 🇩🇪 | FB | retired | Cologne Centurions |
| Triston McCathern | RB | ||
| Luc Schneider | RB | ||
| Vincent Fehr | RB | ||
| Kyle Kitchens 🇺🇸 | DE | Hildesheim Invaders/TSL Aviators | Leipzig Kings |
| Aslan Zetterberg | DL | Carlstad Crusaders | Leipzig Kings |
| Lance Leota | DT | South Auckland Raiders | Leipzig Kings |
| Mamadou Sy | DT | Hildesheim Invaders | Leipzig Kings |
| Dion Henrique 🇳🇱 | CB | Hildesheim Invaders | Leipzig Kings |
| Giuseppe Della Vecchia 🇮🇹 | LB | Hildesheim Invaders | Parma Panthers (IFL) |
| Vincent Buffet | DE | Hildesheim Invaders | Leipzig Kings |
| Nils Hoffmann | LB | Hildesheim Invaders | Oldenburg Knights (RL) |
| Dante Neumann | CB | Hildesheim Invaders | Braunschweig Lions |
| Marc Amand | DE | Hannover Grizzlies | Hannover Grizzlies |
| Marcel Gaal | Hildesheim Invaders | Braunschweig Lions | |
| Sebastian Graf[8] | Hildesheim Invaders | Braunschweig Lions | |
| Georg Kraft | |||
| Daniel Schuhmacher | K | Braunschweig Lions | Cologne Centurions |
| Jacob Templar | P | Hildesheim Invaders | Leipzig Kings |
Links[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ https://www.stadionwelt.de/news/25170/drei-clubs-in-der-hdi-arena
- ↑ https://www.ran.de/sports/american-football/news/elf-team-aus-hannover-hildesheim-heisst-german-knights1367-niedersachsen-152052
- ↑ https://www.football-aktuell.de/cgi-bin/news.pl?artikel=16077096408028
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CLKiHD2FOYK/
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CMnB-LVC93F
- ↑ https://www.american-football.com/news/die-german-knights-1367-niedersachsen-nicht-in-der-european-league-of-football-3359
- ↑ https://footbowl.eu/so-saehe-die-elf-aus-wenn/
- ↑ https://www.football-aktuell.de/cgi-bin/news.pl?artikel=164856945650101015
