The Prague Black Panthers (formerly the Prague Panthers ) are an American football team based in Prague , Czech Republic founded in 1991. The Prague Black Panthers are one of the most successful teams in Central Europe, having been named the Champions of the Czech Republic 18 times (1994–1996, 1999–2003, 2007–2010 as the Panthers, and 2013–2018 as the Black Panthers). After years of dominance in the Czech League of American Football , the Black Panthers have since 2010 also competed as members of the Austrian Football League (AFL). Since 2018 the Panthers have only been members of the (AFL) choosing not to compete in the Czech league. Internationally the team has played in the European Football League (EFL) and the EFAF Cup and also in Central European Football League (CEFL).
8-537: The Prague Panthers were founded in 1991. In 1992 the Prague Panthers merged with Prague Cocks to become a larger more unified organization. The Panther senior team has been playing in the Czech American Football Association ever since it started in 1994. The Panthers have enjoyed much success since their inception, winning the first three Czech Championships in 1994, 1995 and 1996. The year 1995
16-603: The "bigger" American Football leagues. The competition was folded after the 2013 edition. The reason was, in 2014 the Big6 European Football League was established as the new top tier competition. So in fact, the EFL took the place of the EFAF Cup. In the group phase, four groups consist each of three teams. Each team plays each other once and has a home game and an away game. The winners of these groups qualify directly for
24-717: The Prague Panthers defeated the Black Panthers de Thonon-les-Bains of France 35–12 to win the EFAF Cup . Panther running back, Stanislav Jantos, paved the way for the Panthers' first EFAF Cup victory, earning MVP honors. In 2010, the Prague Panthers joined the Austrian Football League (AFL) for the first time, posting a 3–3 record in league play. In 2024, the Black Panthers reached the Austrian Bowl championship final game for
32-609: The first time in 14 seasons in the league. They defeated the Vienna Vikings 20-14, earning their first AFL Championship. In late 2012, the Prague Black Hawks , a team whom defeated them in the 2011 and 2012 Czech (CLAF) Championship Games, merged with the Panthers to form the Prague Black Panthers. The Prague Black Panthers organization consists of Senior as well as Junior teams, Flag teams and cheerleaders. Every year
40-595: The organization continues to grow and gets increasingly more popular in the community. EFAF Cup The EFAF Cup was an international competition for European American Football clubs. It was the second highest level of club competition in the European Federation of American Football (EFAF), behind the European Football League (EFL),. Organised by EFAF , this competition was comparable to football's Europa League . American Football teams from
48-418: The semi-final phase. Should more teams qualify for and enter the EFAF Cup competition, more groups are created and a quarter-final phase introduced. Participating teams must submit a roster of at most 60 players to EFAF by March 31 of the competition year. These players, and no others, are permitted to play for the club within the competition that year. No changes can be made to the list. On each game day,
56-500: The strongest leagues in Europe competed annually to achieve results good enough to qualify them for the EFAF Cup competition. The format dated from 2002 and offers top-division European clubs who have not qualified for the highest level of competition ( EFL ) a chance to play internationally. Participants were Champions and Vice-Champions of the "smaller" American Football nations, and those finishing just behind EFL qualification places in
64-454: Was big for the young Panther organization as they beat their crosstown rival, the Prague Lions, 52–22. The game was played in front of a crowd of 4,500 at Vikovice Stadium in the neutral city of Ostrava, and proved to be a huge win for the Panthers as they won their second straight Czech Championship. The Panthers have enjoyed much success in recent years winning 12 Czech Championships. In 2009,
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