Amsterdam Admirals

The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team in NFL Europa based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, to be based entirely in Europe. The Admirals were one of three new teams, the others being the Scottish Claymores based in Edinburgh and the Rhein Fire based in Düsseldorf, Germany, to join the old World League's European Division teams: the Barcelona Dragons, the Frankfurt Galaxy, and the London Monarchs.

The Admirals began playing their home games at the old Olympisch Stadion, built in 1928 for the Summer Games. They played there for two years until the Amsterdam ArenA was completed in 1996.

They qualified for the 1995 World Bowl with a 9-1 regular season record, but lost to the Frankfurt Galaxy by a score of 26-22. Ten years later, on their 11th year of existence, the Admirals won their first World Bowl by defeating the defending champion Berlin Thunder 27-21 in the championship game's 13th edition. The next season, they failed to defend their title against the Frankfurt Galaxy 22-7 in World Bowl XIV.

Under the "Player Continuity Program" the Admirals contracted Linebacker Derrick Ballard and Running back Jonathan Smith for the 2007 season.

Head coaches

Al Luginbill 0.567 (1995-2000)
Bart Andrus 0.486 (2001-2007)

Season-by-season

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

Season	W	L	T	Finish	Playoff results
Amsterdam Admirals (World League)
1995	9	1	0	1st League	Lost World Bowl III (Galaxy)
1996	5	5	0	3rd League	--
Amsterdam Admirals (NFL Europe)
1997	5	5	0	3rd League	--
1998	7	3	0	3rd League	--
1999	4	6	0	4th League	--
2000	4	6	0	4th League	--
2001	4	6	0	4th League	--
2002	4	6	0	5th League	--
2003	4	6	0	5th League	--
2004	5	5	0	3rd League	--
2005	6	4	0	2nd League	Won World Bowl XIII (Thunder)
2006	7	3	0	1st League	Lost World Bowl XIV (Galaxy)
Amsterdam Admirals (NFL Europa)
2007	4	6	0	5th League	--
Totals	68	64	0	(including playoffs)

Attendance

Source: Kenn.com

Year	Games	Total	Average
Amsterdam Admirals (World League)
1995	5	72,767	14,553
1996	5	50,094	10,019
Amsterdam Admirals (NFL Europe)
1997	5	73,425	14,685
1998	5	79,263	15,853
1999	5	61,444	12,289
2000	5	54,985	10,997
2001	5	66,292	13,258
2002	5	58,322	11,664
2003	5	57,208	11,442
2004	5	62,496	12,499
2005	5	64,386	12,877
2006	5	67,106	13,421
Amsterdam Admirals (NFL Europa)
2007	5	58,390	11,678
13	65	826,178	12,710

Ring of Honor

Adam Vinatieri - K (1995)
Jonathan Kirksey - DT (1995, 1998-2001)
Frank Temming - RB (1995-2000)
Silvio Diliberto - K (1997-2004)
Kurt Warner - QB (1998)
Derrick Levake - OL (1999-2000)
Rafael Cooper - RB (2002)
Matthew Hatchette - WR (2003)
Willie Pile - SS (2004)
Ruvell Martin - WR (2005)

Notable players

Jamie Martin - QB (1995)
Darren Bennett - P (1995)
Will Furrer - QB (1995-1996)
Mario Cristobal - OG (1995-1996)
Jay Fiedler - QB (1997)
Kurt Warner - QB (1998)
Jake Delhomme - QB (1998)
Tom Nütten - OG (1998)
Joe Douglass - WR (1998-1999)
Dan Gonzalez - QB (1999)
Jim Kubiak - QB (1999-2000)
Ron Powlus - QB (2000)
José Cortéz - K (2000)
Spergon Wynn - QB (2001)
Kevin Daft - QB (2002)
Shaun Hill - QB (2003)
Clint Stoerner - QB (2004)
Gibran Hamdan - QB (2004-2006)
Kurt Kittner - QB (2005)
Jarrett Payton - RB (2005)
Cory Peoples - S (2005)
Norman LeJeune - S (2005)
Jeff Roehl - OL (2006)
Jared Allen - QB (2006)
Skyler Fulton - WR (2006-2007)
Shawn Morgan - LB (2006)
Derrick Ballard - LB (2005-2007) 2007 contract player
Jonathan Smith - RB (2005 & 2007) 2007 contract player

League records (1995-2007)

Individual records

Note: NFLE has a 10-game season.

Highest Pass Rating, Season (Qualifiers)			Most Passes Attempted, Season
Player	Year	Rating	Player	Year	Attempted
Gibran Hamdan	2006	113.4	Will Furrer	1996	368
Most Passes Completed, Season			Highest Average Gain, Season (Qualifiers)
Player	Year	Completed	Player	Year	Average
Shaun Hill	2003	220	Gibran Hamdan	2006	10.06
Most Consecutive Passes Attempted, None Intercepted			Most Games, 100 or More Yards Pass Receiving, Season
Player	Year	Attempted	Player	Year	Games
Ron Powlus	2000	156	Skyler Fulton	2006	6
Most Consecutive Games, 100 or More Yards Pass Receiving			Most Yards Gained, Career
Player	Year	Games	Player	Year	Yards
Matthew Hatchette	2003	4	Joe Douglass	1998-1999	624
Longest Punt Return			Most Opponents' Fumbles Recovered, Season
Player	Year	Yards	Player	Year	Fumbles
Matthew Hatchette	Amsterdam vs. Berlin, 5/31/03	101	Karmeeleyah McGill	1995	4
Longest Fumble Return
Player	Year	Yards
Derrick Ballard	Amsterdam vs. Berlin, 3/18/06	95

Team records

Most Passes Completed, Season		Fewest Passes Completed, Season
Year	Completed	Year	Completed
2003	271	1997	116
Fewest Yards Gained, Season		Fewest Rushing Touchdowns, Season
Year	Yards	Year	Touchdowns
1997	1208	2000	1
Most Points, Both Teams, Game		Most Punt Returns, Season
Year	Points	Year	Yards
5/31/03 (vs. Berlin)	94 (51-43)	1998	39
Most Yards Gained on Punt Return, Game		Most Yards Gained on Punt Return, Both Teams, Game
Year	Yards	Year	Yards
5/11/96 (vs. London)	175	5/11/96 (vs. London)	201
Fewest Yards Gained on Kickoff Return, Game		Most Yards Gained on Kickoff Return, Both Teams, Game
Year	Yards	Year	Yards
5/28/00 (vs. Frankfurt)	2	5/31/03 (vs. Berlin)	451 (188-263)
Fewest Fumbles, Season		Fewest Fumbles Lost, Season
Year	Fumbles	Year	Fumbles
2003	7	2003	2
Most Fumbles Lost, Both Teams, Game		Most Opponents' Fumbles Recovered, Season
Year	Fumbles	Year	Fumbles
5/13/95 (vs. Barcelona)	8 (4-4)	1995	20
Most Opponents' Fumbles Recovered, Both Teams, Game		Fewest Yards Penalized, Both Teams, Game
Year	Fumbles	Year	Yards
5/13/95 (vs. Barcelona)	8 (4-4)	5/18/97 (vs. Scotland)	25 (15-10)
Most Yards Penalized, Both Teams, Game		Fewest Yards Allowed by Defense, Rushing, Season
Year	Yards	Year	Yards
6/1/02 (vs. Frankfurt)	294 (116-178)	2000	654

Source: NFLEurope.com

Trivia

In all three World Bowl berths the Admirals lost their starting quarterback prior to going to the World Bowl, leaving the big job for the backup quarterback.

When the Admirals were forced to schedule their last home game of the 2000 season against the Scottish Claymores away from the ArenA as Euro 2000 preparations were finalized, they made a return to the Olympisch Stadion in what turned out to be one of the most unusual games in American football history. One of the end zones was ruled unsafe by the officials as the surface was in exceptionally poor condition, so it was decided that the teams would change ends at every change of possession and play towards the other end zone.