Zurich Renegades

The Zurich Renegades are an American football team from Zürich, Switzerland. The club, formed in 1983, is the oldest still existing American football club in Switzerland. With seven Swiss Bowl victories the Renegades have the second most after the Calanda Broncos.[1][2]

Zurich Renegades
Established1983
Based inZurich, Switzerland
Home stadiumSportplatz Looren, Witikon, Zurich
Head coachAlonso Espinosa
LeagueSAFV NLA
League titles7 Swiss Bowls
Websiterenegades.ch
Current uniform
Home kit

History

Formed in November 1983, the club took part in the inaugural Swiss Bowl three years later, in 1983, where it lost to Lugano Seagulls. The two clubs met again in the 1987 Swiss Bowl and this time Zurich kept the upper hand and defended its title in 1988, now against the Bienna Jets. After this, the club briefly dropped out of the Nationalliga A, the highest league of American football in Switzerland. The club returned to the Nationalliga in 1990 but it took another decade for the Renegades to reach another Swiss Bowl.[1]

From 2000 onwards the Renegades played in eight of the next ten Swiss Bowls, winning five of those and losing three. National titles were won in 2001 against the Basel Gladiators, in 2002 against the Seaside Vipers St. Gallen, in 2004 and 2005 against the Winterthur Warriors and in 2008 against the Landquart Broncos. The club's last appearance in the Swiss Bowl to date came in 2009 when it lost 23–35 to the Broncos. From 2010 to 2015 the club has played in the Nationalliga A without quite making it to the national championship game again. The 2016 season saw the club come last in the league without a win all season and lose the relegation play-off against Nationalliga B champions Geneva Seahawks as well.[1]

Thereafter, the rebuild started. Two new mexican Coaches were acquired, Fabian Muñoz as head coach and offensive coordinator and Alonso Espinosa as defensive coordinator. In the first season in the NLB, the team managed to achieve only three victories out of 8 games played with the new coaching staff in the 2017 season. One year later, the mission to get back to NLA started and 9 regular season wins showed the potential of the team and led them to the relegation Game against the Luzern Lions. However, the Renegades were narrowly defeated by the team from Central Switzerland.

In 2019, the Zurich Renegades had a perfect season with 10 out of 10 regular season wins and were once again playing against the Luzern Lions in the relegation game for the right to be promoted back to the NLA. This time the team from Zurich was victorious, defeating Lucerne 38–27 in Utogrund Stadium in front of over 500 visitors, paving the way to move back up to the highest American Football league in Switzerland.

Honours
  • Swiss Bowl
    • Champions: (7) 1987, 1988, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008
    • Runners-up: (4) 1986, 2000, 2006, 2009

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Season League Regular season Postseason
Won Lost Ties Win % PF PA Finish Won Lost Win % Result
2008 NLA 7 1 0 .875 258 129 1st (League) 2 0 1.000 Swiss Bowl Champions 2008
SB: 52–27 against Landquart Broncos
2009 NLA 6 2 0 .750 243 146 2nd (League) 1 1 .500 SF: 51–46 against Winterthur Warriors
SB: 23–35 against Calanda Broncos
2010 NLA 2 8 0 .200 126 187 5th (League) —
2011 NLA 3 7 0 .300 221 303 5th (League) —
2012 NLA 7 2 0 .778 388 117 2nd (League) 0 1 .000 SF: 13–15 against Basel Gladiators
2013 NLA 2 8 0 .200 152 359 5th (League) —
2014 NLA 4 6 0 .400 273 405 4th (League) 0 1 .000 SF: 20–44 against Basel Gladiators
2015 NLA 4 6 0 .400 223 282 5th (League) —
2016 NLA 0 10 0 .000 128 311 6th (League) 0 1 .000 RR: 7–37 against Geneva Seahawks
2017 NLB 3 5 0 .375 182 185 4th (League) —
2018 NLB 9 1 0 .900 371 136 1st (League) 0 1 .000 PR: 15–17 against Luzern Lions
2019 NLB 10 0 0 1.000 327 107 1st (League) 1 0 1.000 PR: 38–27 against Luzern Lions
Total 57 56 0 .504 4 5 .444
  • SF = Semi Finals
  • SB = Swiss Bowl
  • PR = Promotion Round
  • RR = Relegation Round

References
  1. Team Vorstellung Zurich Renegades (in German) Swiss Bowl website - Team history, accessed: 9 December 2013
  2. Geschichte (in German) Zurich Renegades website, accessed: 9 December 2013
  3. Nationalliga A 2008 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 17 December 2013
  4. Nationalliga A 2009 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 17 December 2013
  5. Nationalliga A 2010 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 17 December 2013
  6. Nationalliga A 2011 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 17 December 2013
  7. Nationalliga A 2012 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 17 December 2013
  8. Nationalliga A 2013 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 17 December 2013
  9. "NLB Standing 2019". endzone.ch (in German). Retrieved 2019-06-25.
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