The final of the 40th German Junior Championship will take place in Düsseldorf. On September 3, the Düsseldorf Panthers and the Berlin Adler will meet in the Junior Bowl XL at 3 p.m. in the Benrath Stadium. Düsseldorf defeated the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns in the semi-finals with 26:20, Berlin prevailed against the Cologne Crocodiles with 35:21.
For decades, the two clubs have been two of the most important “beacons” in the youth sector of German American football. Not only have the Düsseldorf Panthers been youth champions 15 times and the Berliners five times, both are also the sporting home of the most renowned German ex-NFL pros Sebastian Vollmer (Düsseldorf) and Björn Werner (Berlin).
For both of them, however, the 2022 season is also a kind of comeback, in recent years they have gone through phases of rebuilding, which is nothing unusual in the youth work and is also part of it for long-term success. But now they have strong vintages together again and are preparing for an extraordinary endgame. The Panthers are in a Junior Bowl for the 21st time, the Eagles for the seventh time. But only once so far have the two faced each other directly in the final: In 2006 there was – then also in Düsseldorf – the only final defeat of the Berliners so far in the 26:7 of the Panthers.