Hamburg Sea Devils
.svg)
The Hamburg Sea Devils are an American football team based in Hamburg, Germany, that plays in the European League of Football (ELF) sind 2021.
History[edit | edit source]
The Hamburg franchise of the ELF is one of the founding teams of the league. The team is operated by SEH Football Betreiber GmbH, the company of Zeljko Karajica, CEO of the ELF. Max Paatz was appointed as the general manager.
The team name was already used by the team with the same name in NFL Europe (NFLE) from 2005 to 2007. It may be used for the current team after approval by the NFL.[1] The predecessor of the team in the NFLE won the last World Bowl on June 23, 2007.
2021 season[edit | edit source]
On July 6, 2021, the head coach of the Hamburg Sea Devils, Ted Daisher, was fired.[2] His successor was Offensive Coordinator Andreas Nommensen, who was initially only to be given the position on an interim basis. However, after a 44-6 win over Berlin Thunder on the fourth day of play, it was announced that Nommensen would serve as head coach until the end of the season. The Sea Devils were able to secure first place in the North Division with seven wins and three losses. They secured a spot in the inaugural ELF Championship Game with a 30-27 win over the Panthers Wrocław in the semifinals. There they faced the Frankfurt Galaxy. In a game that was close until the end, the team lost 30:32.
2022 season[edit | edit source]
For the 2022 season, they secured the services of Charles Jones as head coach. Jones had already coached for the old Sea Devils. The Sea Devils started the season with a win against the Berlin Thunder and a loss against the Barcelona Dragons. From July 2022 until the end of the season, former NFL coach and coordinator John Shoop served as a consultant for Hamburg. Shoop had been a coach for various positions on the offensive side until 2015, including offensive coordinator with the Oakland Raiders.
Starting in the third, the Sea Devils put together a ten-game winning streak, defending the Northern Conference title and finishing as the best team in the regular season. In the semifinals in front of their home crowd, they held off the Raiders Tirol 19-7. In the ELF Championship Game against Vienna Vikings, the Sea Devils never really got into the game and lost 15:27 in their second final.
2023 Season[edit | edit source]
Due to the restructuring of the conferences for the 2023 season, the Sea Devils now play in the Western Conference
Charles Jones was extended as head coach for the 2023 season. A U.S. quarterback, Preston Haire, was signed. Two well-known linebackers, Kasim Edebali and Miguel Boock, ended their careers after the 2022 season.
The game against Rhein Fire on June 11, 2023, marks the first time the Sea Devils will play a game at Volksparkstadion, which was the Sea Devils' home stadium in NFL Europe. The Sea Devils' home stadium was also the home of the Sea Devils in NFL Europe.
In February 2023, league-wide lists were published on the internet showing that the Sea Devils had had a total of at least four cases of doping or drug abuse in the past two seasons, which was confirmed by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). Three of those cases involved the detection of THC, which resulted in a two-year suspension in all three cases. In addition, now-former Sea Devils running back Glen Toonga was found to have used cocaine, which conditionally resulted in a three-month suspension. In response, general manager Max Paatz stated that the Sea Devils will now increase education on the issue and implement intra-team testing. [3]
The game against Rhein Fire on June 11, 2023 was the first time the Sea Devils played a game at Volksparkstadion, which was the Sea Devils' home stadium in NFL Europe. The Sea Devils lost 22:27, but the two games that followed were clear wins against Cologne and Berlin, and after eight games they had four wins and four defeats to their name. In the last four games, however, there were clear defeats, so that the Sea Devils missed the playoffs for the first time.
After the end of the regular season, the Sea Devils announced the dismissal of Charles Jones as head coach. In addition, defensive coordinator Kendral Ellison moved to the Munich Ravens as the new head coach and general manager Max Paatz moved to Rhein Fire.
2024 Season[edit | edit source]
In November 2023, the US American Matt Johnson was introduced as the new head coach for the 2024 season. The coaching staff will be complemented by defensive coordinator Brandon Noble, who previously played as a defensive tackle for various teams in the NFL for several years. The new sporting director is former player Miguel Boock. On December 14, 2023, the Sea Devils presented Mark Weitz as the new General Manager of the franchise, who had previously worked for SEH Holding GmbH. On December 21, 2023, Javarian Smith was introduced as the new quarterback and Jarvis McClam as wide receiver. Smith comes from the Allgäu Comets (GFL), McClam played for the Raiders Tirol in 2023. Lee Pitts and Caleb Mills were introduced as further US imports.
With the announcement of a match at the Volksparkstadion on July 14, 2024, the previous cooperation with Hamburger SV was also continued for the coming season.
In addition, two matches will be played at the Heinz-von-Heiden-Arena in Hanover, as well as one match each at the Weserstadion in Bremen and the Stadion an der Lohmühle in Lübeck. In addition, the Sea Devils' last home game of the season will also be the first "international game" of the ELF. This will take place at the Šubićevac stadium in Šibenik, Croatia, the home ground of soccer club HNK Šibenik, which is also part of the SEH Holding GmbH portfolio.
With a record of only 2 wins and 10 losses, the Sea Devils clearly missed the playoffs as the Western Conference's bottom team.
2025 Season[edit | edit source]
In September 2024, Hamburg introduced Shuan Fatah as the new head coach. [4] Among other things, Fatah was a two-time German and five-time Austrian champion as a coach and worked for the Sea Devils of NFL Europe as a running back coach. Lee Rowland, who had previously worked with Fatah, was hired as offensive coordinator. [5]
Stadium[edit | edit source]
The homefield of the Hamburg Sea Devils is the stadium Hoheluft in the Hamburg district Eppendorf, which offers a capacity of 8000 seats. The 1000 seats included here represent the oldest covered grandstand in northern Germany. Sometimes the Hamburg Sea Devils also play in the Volksparkstadion.
Players[edit | edit source]
Top Players[edit | edit source]
| Quarterback | Year | G | COMP | ATT | CMP% | YDS | TD | INT | SCK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salieu Ceesay | 2021-22 | 19 | 143 | 243 | 58.8 | 1733 | 10 | 4 | 29 |
| Preston Haire | 2023 | 8 | 135 | 220 | 61.4 | 1619 | 12 | 6 | 7 |
| Moritz Maack | 2022-23 | 23 | 111 | 217 | 51.2 | 1399 | 12 | 9 | 10 |
| Receiver | Year | G | RRC | TGT | YDS | CTCH % | YPG | YPC | LNG | TD | TD/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jean-Claude Madin Cerezo | 2021-23 | 32 | 88 | 141 | 1038 | 62.4 | 32.4 | 11.8 | 53 | 10 | 0.3 |
| Jean Constant | 2022 | 12 | 66 | 93 | 963 | 71.0 | 80.2 | 14.6 | 67 | 7 | 0.6 |
| Malik Stanley | 2023 | 12 | 67 | 123 | 924 | 54.5 | 77.0 | 13.8 | 65 | 9 | 0.8 |
| Benjamin Mau | 2021-23 | 26 | 54 | 95 | 714 | 56.8 | 27.5 | 13.2 | 62 | 5 | 0.2 |
| Running | Year | G | ATT | YDS | AVG | YPG | LNG | TD | TD/G | FMB | FML |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Toonga | 2022 | 12 | 257 | 1468 | 5.7 | 122.3 | 71 | 21 | 1.8 | 6 | 4 |
| Simon Homadi | 2021-23 | 30 | 212 | 757 | 3.6 | 25.2 | 41 | 4 | 0.1 | 1 | 1 |
2025 Roster[edit | edit source]
Quarterbacks
Running backs Wide receivers
Tight ends
|
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen |
Linebackers
Defensive backs Special teams |
Names with a strikethrough = season ending
Rookies in italics | ||||||
2024 Roster[edit | edit source]
| Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
Tight ends |
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen |
Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams |
Injured reserve
Names with a strikethrough = season ending
| ||||||
2023 Roster[edit | edit source]
| Quarterbacks
Running backs Wide receivers
Tight ends
|
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen |
Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
|
Injured reserve
Names with a strikethrough = season ending
| ||||||
2022 Roster[edit | edit source]
| Quarterbacks
Running backs Wide receivers
Tight ends |
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen |
Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
|
Names with a strikethrough = season ending
Rookies in italics | ||||||
Staff[edit | edit source]
Head Coaches[edit | edit source]
| Name | Tenure | Record | Titles | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | |||
| Ted Daisher | 2021 | 2 | 0 | – |
| Andreas Nommensen | 2021 | 5 | 3 | – |
| Charles Jones | 2022-2023 | 16 | 10 | – |
| Matt Johnson | 2024 | 2 | 10 | – |
| Shuan Fatah | 2025 | 0 | 0 | – |
2024 staff[edit | edit source]
|
Front office
Head coach
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
Strength and conditioning
| |||||
Total record[edit | edit source]
| Games | Win | Loss | Win % | P+ | P- | PDiff | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamburg Sea Devils | 50 | 26 | 24 | 0.520 | 1265 | 1182 | +83 |
Record per Season[edit | edit source]
| Season | Conference | Rank | Games | Win | Loss | Win % | P+ | P- | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | North | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0.700 | 274 | 178 | Semi final vs Panthers Wrocław 30-27 Championship game vs Frankfurt Galaxy 30-32 |
| 2022 | Northern | 1 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0.917 | 424 | 160 | Semi final vs Raiders Tirol 19-7 Championship game vs Vienna Vikings 15-27 |
| 2023 | Western | 4 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0.333 | 247 | 278 | |
| 2024 | Western | 6 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 0.167 | 226 | 473 |
Record per Opponent[edit | edit source]
| Games | Win | Loss | Win % | P+ | P- | PDiff | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Istanbul Rams | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 99 | 26 | +73 |
| Prague Lions | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 58 | 38 | +20 |
| Raiders Tirol | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 19 | 7 | +12 |
| Berlin Thunder | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0.833 | 207 | 101 | +106 |
| Leipzig Kings | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.750 | 145 | 18 | +127 |
| Barcelona Dragons | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.750 | 99 | 76 | +23 |
| Panthers Wrocław | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0.714 | 165 | 147 | +18 |
| Cologne Centurions | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0.500 | 100 | 93 | +7 |
| Rhein Fire | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0.333 | 138 | 210 | -72 |
| Frankfurt Galaxy | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0.143 | 124 | 186 | -62 |
| Vienna Vikings | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 15 | 27 | -12 |
| Paris Musketeers | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0.000 | 74 | 138 | -64 |
| Madrid Bravos | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.000 | 22 | 115 | -93 |
Source: https://elfdata.eu/
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ https://www.ran.de/american-football/elf/elf-news/comeback-fuer-sea-devils-und-galaxy-nfl-europe-brands-sind-zurueck-116073
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ-m2ZmtaLq/
- ↑ https://www.ndr.de/sport/mehr_sport/Kokain-und-Dopingfaelle-Wirbel-um-Hamburger-Footballteam-Sea-Devils,seadevils120.html
- ↑ https://europeanleague.football/news/shuan-fatah-takes-over-as-head-coach-of-hamburg-sea-devils-2474
- ↑ https://europeanleague.football/news/lee-rowland-becomes-new-offensive-coordinator-of-the-hamburg-sea-devils-2558
