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Stuttgart Surge

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Stuttgart Surge
Current season
Established November 4, 2020 (2020-11-04)
Play in Germany Stuttgart, Germany
League/conference affiliations
European League of Football (2021–present)
  • South Conference (2021)
  • Central Conference (2022–2024)
  • West Division (2025–present)
Current uniform
Team colorsBlue, lime, white
     
Personnel
Owner(s)Steffen Korinth
Erwin & Martin Schmidt
Jakob Johnson
General managerSuni Musa
Head coachJordan Neuman
Team history
  • Stuttgart Surge (2021–present)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (2)
2023, 2024
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (2)
2023, 2024
Home stadium(s)

The Stuttgart Surge are a professional American football team based in Stuttgart, Germany. The Surge compete in the European League of Football (ELF) as a member of the West division. The club entered the ELF as an inaugural member in 2021. In 2021, they competed in the South Conference. From 2022 to 2024, Stuttgart was assigned to the Central Conference; the team joined the West division in 2025. They have played their home games at the Gazi Stadion (full name with sponsor Gazi-Stadion auf der Waldau) which is currently the oldest sports stadium in Germany still in use.[1]

The Surge have won 2 division titles and played in one ELF championship game, having lost to the Rhein Fire, 34–53 at the 2023 ELF Championship Game.

Franchise history

[edit]

The Stuttgart franchise is one of the eight founding members of the European League of Football (ELF), established in 2020.[2] Initially, the franchise was supposed to start as the Stuttgart Scorpions, adopting the name of Stuttgart's German Football League (GFL) team.[3] Since the member's assembly of the Stuttgart Scorpions decided to disallow the use of the name, the team formed as Stuttgart Surge reviving the World League of American Football (WLAF) "Surge" franchise of the 1992 World Bowl champion Sacramento Surge.[4][5] The World League of American Football was later renamed the NFL Europe. The label Surge was picked over the name Stallions in compliance of the former 1980s and 1990s American football team Stuttgart Stallions and determines the design of the new club logo and ensign.[6] The franchise is operated by the American Football Club Stuttgart GmbH, whose general manager Timo Franke previously worked as gameday manager for the Stuttgart Scorpions.[7][8] Martin Hanselmann, the former coach of Germany's national American football team was signed as head coach in 2021.[9][10]

The team played their first game in the new league against the Barcelona Dragons (ELF) on June 19, 2021, with a 17–21 victory.[11] In their week 2 loss to Frankfurt Galaxy starting Quarterback Jacob Wright was ejected for using a racially charged insult against an opponent for which he was ultimately cut from Stuttgart Surge and banned from playing for any ELF team for the ongoing 2021 season.[12][13] The new Quarterback Aaron Ellis was presented ahead of the week 3 matchup against Berlin Thunder (ELF).[14] After two consecutive losses during the end of the season, the team finished last in the South division and did not qualify for the playoffs.[15]

The front office and owner structure changed significantly in preparation for the 2022 European League of Football season. Former general manager Timo Franke handed the office over to Suni Musa, but staying in the organisation as head of sales and sponsoring.[16] On February 4, 2022, it was revealed that New England Patriots fullback and Stuttgart native Jakob Johnson will become co-owner of the franchise.[17]

After seven consecutive defeats, Martin Hanselmann resigned from his post as head coach. His interim successor was George Streeter. However, the team could not increase noticeably and ended the season without a win. After the season, Streeter became Director of Player Personnel and Development.

On October 18, 2022, Surge signed Jordan Neuman as new Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator. Neuman previously was head coach of the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, and won the German Bowl 2022. Along with him, defensive coordinator Johannes Brenner and assistant Cody Pastorino joined from the Unicorns. The new coaches led the team to a 10-2 record. Surge won the Wild Card game vs Panthers Wrocław with 37-14, and the semi final at the Vienna Vikings with 40-33. In the ELF championship game, Surge faced Rhein Fire, but lost the game with 34-53.

Season-by-season

[edit]
Season Head coach Regular season Postseason Result Ø Attendance
GP Won Lost Win % Finish GP Won Lost Win %
2021 Martin Hanselmann 10 2 8 .200 4th (South) DNQ 1,429
2022 12 0 12 .000 4th (Central) DNQ 2,084
2023 Jordan Neuman 12 10 2 .833 1st (Central) 3 2 1 .667 2nd 3,901
2024 12 11 1 .917 1st (Central) 1 0 1 .000 —

Logos

[edit]
TV tower and Stadion auf der Waldau

With the presentation of the new team name in 2021, the franchise unveiled two logos for their first season.[18] The design of the major logo uses the form of the Stuttgart TV tower which is located near the stadium. It is both a landmark for the town as well as for the region. The logo features the team colors yellow and blue with the tower shaft and the antenna depicting a stylized lightning bolt. The tower basket features the team name in white on a dark ground.[19] The minor logo just shows a stylized lightning bolt in yellow pointing to the right and features optionally the team name or a multiangled line, both in a dark color.[20][21]

Roster

[edit]

Reference[22]

Stuttgart Surge roster
Quarterbacks
  •  4 United States Reilly Hennessey
  • 16 Germany Lars Heidrich

Running backs

  •  0 Republic of Ireland Tomiwa Oyewo
  •  2 Germany Kai Hunter
  • 22 Germany Albert Wiesigstrauch
  • 35 United Arab Emirates Micah McCullough
  • 41 Germany Bryan Yankson
  • 43 Germany León Helm FB

Wide receivers

  •  3 United States Mike Harley Jr. [a]
  •  7 Germany Louis Geyer
  •  8 Germany Leonell Fritzen
  • 10 Germany Florian Lengauer
  • 11 Germany Emil Rabin
  • 14 Germany Timon Stüwe
  • 17 United Kingdom Daniel Pedro
  • 18 Germany Aurieus Minton
  • 81 Germany Jan Pietsch

Tight ends

  • 40 Germany Giacomo De Pauli
  • 80 Germany Philip Eichhorn
  • 85 United States Roberto Miranda
 Offensive linemen
  • 50 Germany Marvin Biegert C
  • 55 Italy Alessandro Vergani G
  • 57 Germany Marlon Werthmann T
  • 61 Germany Luca Jokiel T
  • 66 Germany Sascha Beck C
  • 67 Germany Markos Dubravkic G
  • 69 Germany Emmanuel Häfele T
  • 72 Germany Tobias Braun T
  • 74 Germany Robert Hager T
  • 75 Germany Moritz Schreiber C
  • 76 Germany Lukas Maier G
  • 78 Germany Benhur Arya

Defensive linemen

  •  6 Germany Robert Lachmann DE
  • 13 Finland Chris Mulumba DE
  • 52 Germany Dominic Siegel DE
  • 54 Germany Alexander Kreß DE
  • 60 Germany Nathan Kalemba DT
  • 70 Germany Maximilian Dommermuth DT
  • 90 Germany Raphael Zistler DT
  • 91 Germany Sadik Busch DE
  • 92 Germany Simon Butsch DE
  • 94 Germany Berend Grube DE
  • 97 Germany Leander Strathmann DE
 Linebackers
  • 25 Germany Luis Leatherman MLB
  • 26 Germany Luca Siebert MLB
  • 30 Germany Lenno Reinhardt OLB
  • 32 Germany Luis Bach
  • 39 Germany Enis Kaser OLB
  • 44 Germany Maleka Japhet Mbala MLB
  • 45 Germany Lukas Levin MLB
  • 47 Germany Nikolas Knoblauch MLB
  • 49 Germany Felix Födinger OLB
  • 51 Germany Omar Dittrich MLB

Defensive backs

  •  5 Germany Konstantin Katz FS
  •  9 Germany Lasse Engel FS
  • 12 United States Raheem Wilson CB
  • 20 Germany Sarrow Drammeh CB
  • 21 Germany Julian Jakob CB
  • 23 Italy Giuseppe Della Vecchia CB
  • 24 United States Mitchel Fettig CB
  • 27 Croatia Marko Vidačković FS
  • 28 Germany Thiago Siebert CB
  • 29 Germany Julian Ludwig-Mayorga
  • 31 Germany Nick Wenzelburger S
  • 33 Germany Ben Wenzler CB

Special teams

  • 38 Germany Timo Bronn


Rookies in italics
 Roster updated 2 June 2025
5 A-import, 5 E-import, 56 homegrown
66 active

Staff

[edit]
Stuttgart Surge staff

Front office

  • Owner – Steffen Korinth, Erwin &
    Martin Schmidt, Jakob Johnson
  • General Manager – Suni Musa
  • Director of Player Personnel and Development – George Streeter
  • Director of football operations/personnel – Jeremy Bryson

Head coach

  • Head coach – Jordan Neuman

Offensive coaches

  • Offensive coordinator – Jordan Neuman
  • Quarterbacks – n/a
  • Running backs – Joshua Tapscott
  • Wide receivers – Joseph Joyner
  • Tight ends/fullbacks – Jochen Holzinger
  • Offensive line – Hunter Sims
  

Defensive coaches

  • Defensive coordinator – Johannes Brenner
  • Assistant defensive coordinator – Cody Pastorino
  • Linebacker – Daniel McCray
  • Inside linebacker – David Zeller
  • Defensive line – Justin Bernthaler
  • Defensive backs – n/a

Special teams coaches

  • Special teams coordinator – n/a

Assistant coaches

  • Analytics coach – Friedemann Hees

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and conditioning – Natalia Wisniewska
  • Head of Strength and conditioning – Corey Chapman


Staff updated 23 March 2023

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ Replacement for United States Jeff Cotton[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Die Adolf-Jäger-Kampfbahn: Ein Denkmal stirbt". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). 4 April 2015. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  2. ^ "Pro football returns to Europe: European League of Football kicks off in 2021". AmericanFootballInternational.com. November 4, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  3. ^ "Die Stuttgart Scorpions zwischen zwei Fronten". Stuttgarter Nachrichten (in German). March 10, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  4. ^ "Stuttgart Surge startet in der ELF" (in German). Stuttgarter Zeitung. April 16, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  5. ^ "General Manager Timo Franke: Infos zu Name, Logo und Import RB" (in German). football-aktuell.de. April 25, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  6. ^ "General Manager Timo Franke: Infos zu Name, Logo und Import RB" (in German). football-aktuell.de. April 25, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  7. ^ "stuttgartsurge.com". Stuttgart Surge website. 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  8. ^ "General Manager Timo Franke: Infos zu Name, Logo und Import RB" (in German). football-aktuell.de. April 25, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  9. ^ "Stuttgart Surge: Name ist da, Hanselmann wird Head Coach" (in German). Touchdown24. American Football Magazine. April 16, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  10. ^ "Football: Stuttgart Surge legt los" (in German). Sport1. April 16, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  11. ^ "Start der European League of Football: Stuttgart Surge gewinnt" (in German). swr.de. June 19, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  12. ^ "Jacob Wright gesperrt".
  13. ^ "Surge feuert starting QB Jacob Wright".
  14. ^ "Nach Entlassung von Jacob Wright: Stuttgart Surge verpflichtet Quarterback Aaron Ellis" (in German). July 2, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  15. ^ "Surge verpassen die Playoffs" (in German). August 29, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  16. ^ "Umstrukturierung bei Stuttgart Surge". SportRegion-Stuttgart.de (in German). January 26, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  17. ^ "Das sagt Jakob Johnson zu seinem Einstieg bei den Stuttgart Surge". Stuttgarter Nachrichten (in German). February 4, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  18. ^ "Stuttgart Surge startet in der ELF" (in German). Stuttgarter Zeitung. April 16, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  19. ^ "stuttgartsurge.com". Stuttgart Surge website. 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  20. ^ "stuttgartsurge.com". Stuttgart Surge website. 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  21. ^ "Stuttgart Surge: Name ist da, Hanselmann wird Head Coach" (in German). Touchdown24. American Football Magazine. April 16, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  22. ^ "Stuttgart Surge – Kader". sport.de.
  23. ^ "Surge add wide receiver Harley Jr. after Cotton injury". europeanleague.football. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
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