The team was unveiled on September 25, 2021 as one of the new franchises for the ELF's second season. The franchise was able to adopt the name of the former team in NFL Europe (1994 to 2007) due to a March 2020 agreement between the ELF and the NFL.
The operator of Rhein Fire is Number One Sportbetriebs GmbH. Its founding shareholders are Martin Wagner, Rene Engel, and Dirk Reiner; other shareholders are Ottogerd Karasch, David Wallen, and Daniel Thywissen. The team started into it's first season with general manager Patricia Klemm and Head Coach Jim Tomsula, who was also head coach of the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe in 2006. Rhein Fire plays in the Schauinsland-Reisen Arena in Duisburg.
2025 Schedule
Week
Date
Away Team
Home Team
Venue
Score
1
17.05.2025
Rhein Fire
Paris Musketeers
Stade Robert-Bobin, Bondoufle
17–15
3
01.06.2025
Vienna Vikings
Rhein Fire
Merkur Spiel-Arena, Düsseldorf
12–7
4
08.06.2025
Paris Musketeers
Rhein Fire
Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, Duisburg
31–7
5
14.06.2025
Hamburg Sea Devils
Rhein Fire
Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, Duisburg
0–43
6
21.06.2025
Rhein Fire
Vienna Vikings
Generali Arena, Vienna
33–26
7
29.06.2025
Rhein Fire
Berlin Thunder
Preussenstadion, Berlin
44–7
8
05.07.2025
Rhein Fire
Raiders Tirol
Tivoli Stadion Tirol, Innsbruck
18–35
9
13.07.2025
Rhein Fire
Nordic Storm
Gladsaxe Stadion, Søborg
24–25
10
20.07.2025
Rhein Fire
Hamburg Sea Devils
Stadion Hoheluft, Hamburg
25–13
11
27.07.2025
Berlin Thunder
Rhein Fire
Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, Duisburg
7–69
13
10.08.2025
Raiders Tirol
Rhein Fire
Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, Duisburg
24–34
14
17.08.2025
Nordic Storm
Rhein Fire
Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena, Duisburg
19–27
Seasons
2025 Season
After a renovation period of around 6 months, the district sports facility "Wedau 2" in Duisburg was handed over to Rhein Fire on May 7th.
From now on, this sports facility will be Rhein Fire's sole training base.
The facility features permanent goal posts, a renewed floodlight system, and a new turf surface. The renovation cost approximately €1.1 million. [1]
The 2025 season saw major changes in Rhein Fire’s coaching staff.
After long-time head coach Jim Tomsula did not appear on the sideline for any games during the season and remained in the United States, the team announced that he would not return for the 2025 season. Rhein Fire parted ways with him following Week 4. The team had played only three games due to an early bye week and, for the first time in its history, held a losing record at 1–2. Defensive coordinator Richard Kent, who had already served as acting head coach during those first three games, officially took over the position.
The team also parted ways with offensive coordinator Ed Warriner due to dissatisfaction with the team’s offensive performance. For Week 5, wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator Mario Schulz stepped in as interim offensive coordinator. [2]
Fred Armstrong, who was still the active HC of the AFL team Danube Dragons at the time, was hired as the new OC before the Week 6 game at the Vikings. [3]
2024 Season
One day after the Championship Game, Rhein Fire announced the appointment of Max Paatz as the new General Manager. Paatz previously held the same position for the Hamburg Sea Devils. In October, the contracts of head coach Tomsula, OC Weidinger and DC Richard Kent were each extended by one year. Tomsula will also hold the title of “President” in the future, which makes him one of the main people responsible for the further development of the franchise, alongside Managing Director Max Paatz.
The regular season ended with eleven wins and one defeat. After Rhein Fire beat the Madrid Bravos in the wildcard game, who had inflicted their only defeat of the season, they also won the semi-final against the Stuttgart Surge. In the final at the Veltins-Arena in Schalke, which was attended by 41,364 people, Rhein Fire won 51:20, becoming champions of the European League of Football for the second time in a row.
One day before the final, Richard Kent was named “Assistant Coach of the Year” and Glen Toonga “MVP of the Regular Season” at the ELF Honors 2024.
In October 2022, Tom Aust replaced the previous GM Klemm. Jim Tomsula was extended as Head Coach for the 2023 season. He was supported by former Barcelona Dragons Head Coach Andrew Weidinger as Offensive Coordinator (OC).
Important players were also signed, such as Anthony Mahoungou, Glen Toonga, Alejandro Fernández and Flamur Simon. At the same time, important players such as Jadrian Clark, Nathaniel Robitaille and Martin Pinter were retained. After Nathaniel Robitaille was injured after just a few games, William Patterson was re-signed.
After going 12-0 without defeat in the regular season, the team beat the Frankfurt Galaxy 42:23 in the semi-final at home. This perfect season was crowned with a 53:34 victory in the final against Stuttgart Surge, making Rhein Fire champions of the European League of Football 2023.
Düsseldorf's Mayor Stephan Keller welcomed the team, helpers, cheerleaders and owners to City Hall on September 28, 2023. At the reception, those present signed the City of Düsseldorf's Golden Book. The team celebrated with their fans on the Düsseldorf City Hall balcony.
2022 Season
Rhein Fire played their first game on June 5, 2022 against the reigning ELF champions Frankfurt Galaxy. In front of a record crowd of 7525 spectators, Rhein Fire won the rematch of the German derby from the NFL Europe days with 29:26. In the first home game on June 19, 2022 against the Istanbul Rams, Fire set a spectator record itself with 7895 spectators and won the third game in a row. The first loss came on June 26, 2022 at home against the Barcelona Dragons. Besides the Dragons, the Hamburg Sea Devils were to be the only ones that Rhein Fire lost to twice in the 2022 season. Rhein Fire still stayed in the playoff race with a 23-21 win at home against the Galaxy on August 21, 2022, setting another regular-season attendance record with 12,055 spectators. However, with the Dragons failing to slip up again, Rhein Fire finished second in the Southern Conference behind Barcelona and narrowly missed the playoffs.
Patricia Klemm stepped down from her position as general manager in October 2022. Tom Aust became the new general manager.
The homefield of Rhein Fire is the Schauinsland-Reisen-Arena in Duisburg, Germany which offers a capacity of 31,500 seats.
The 2023 finals, the ELF Championship Game, to be held at the arena on September 24 of that year.
Attendance
This overview shows the development of the team's attendance figures from year to year.
Please note: The championship game is not included, as although one team is listed as the home team, the game itself is an event organized by the league, not by the respective home team.
Season
Games
Total
Avg
+/− vs prev
2022
6
52,527
8,755
—
2023
7
68,696
9,814
▲ +31%
2024
7
75,503
10,786
▲ +10%
2025
6
61,229
10,205
▼ -19%
Player Statistics
This section shows the performance data of selected players of the corresponding team.
Passing
Only players who have at least 50 passing attempts for this team are included
Name
# Exp
G
CMP
ATT
YDS
TD
INT
SCK
CMP%
YPG
Y/A
Jadrian Clark
3
35
637
961
9324
124
24
42
66.3%
266.4
9.7
Chad Jeffries
1
12
198
297
2456
27
4
21
66.7%
204.7
8.3
Matt Adam
1
6
71
127
990
10
4
15
55.9%
165.0
7.8
Rohat Dagdelen
4
40
59
90
768
5
2
5
65.6%
19.2
8.5
Receiving
Only players who have received for at least 500 career yards for their team are included in this list.
Name
# Exp
GP
Rec
Tgt
Yds
TD
Ctch%
YPC
RPG
YPG
Harlan Kwofie
4
47
189
301
3254
46
62.8%
17.2
4.0
69.2
Nathaniel Robitaille
2
17
96
143
1773
20
67.1%
18.5
5.6
104.3
Anthony Mahoungou
1
11
63
94
1011
11
67.0%
16.0
5.7
91.9
Kelvin McKnight Jr.
1
12
66
88
890
7
75.0%
13.5
5.5
74.2
Justin Schlesinger
3
32
62
96
689
12
64.6%
11.1
1.9
21.5
Timothy Knuettel
1
11
57
75
688
7
76.0%
12.1
5.2
62.5
William Patterson
1
7
34
45
569
6
75.6%
16.7
4.9
81.3
Kicking
Only players who scored at least 20 points are included in this list.
Player
Seasons Active
GP
FG Made
FG Att
FG %
FG Long (Max)
XP Made
XP Att
XP %
FG PTS
XP PTS
Total PTS
Sebastian Van Santen
3
43
24
31
77.4%
59
167
202
82.7%
72
167
239
Daniel Schuhmacher
1
7
7
13
53.8%
50
11
18
61.1%
21
11
32
Eritros Haggi
1
11
6
8
75.0%
43
17
26
65.4%
18
17
35
Rushing
Only players who have at least 500 rushing yards for this team are included
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