Compared to the 2015 season, two new clubs will compete in the GFL in 2016. The
Hildesheim Invaders filled the vacant spot in the northern division while the
Frankfurt Universe replaced the
Franken Knights in the south. In the season opener, Frankfurt which had raised expectations through high caliber names on the roster and a perfect season in the GFL2 in 2015 played against Southern Powerhouse Schwäbisch Hall, which had just gotten a lot of attention due to
Moritz Böhringer playing for them before entering the NFL draft. In a hard fought match with errors on both sides, Schwäbisch Hall, led by Quarterback Marco Ehrenfried ultimately prevailed 26–21. This was also the last GFL game receiver
Patrick Donahue played for Schwäbisch Hall before being invited to rookie minicamp by the
Green Bay Packers. In the first game in the North, defending champion Brunswick easily prevailed over the Hamburg Huskies 44–3. The Dresden Monarchs, which had been a perpetual playoff contender in previous years but lost many players after the 2015 season drew their first away game against the Berlin Rebels 21–21. The German teams that had qualified for European competitions (
BIG 6 and EFL Bowl) meanwhile fared a lot worse than in previous years. While both competitions had been dominated by German teams and both finals had been played between two German teams, this year Kiel lost their opening match in the EFL Bowl at home against the
Amsterdam Crusaders 24–31 in Overtime, setting the tone for the ensuing games, which would result in a Hamburg loss to Amsterdam on the road (64–19), a Schwäbisch Hall loss to the
Swarco Raiders Tirol on the road in the Big 6 (34–0) and losses for the Berlin Adler in all their games. The only German teams showing anything approaching the previous dominance were the New Yorker Lions, that won on the road against the
Vienna Vikings (14–21) and at home against the
Aix-en-Provence Argonautes (53–0) thus qualifying for Eurobowl XXX and the newly promoted
Frankfurt Universe that won their first ever official European match on the road against the
Thonon Black Panthers (0–48). While the Dresden Monarchs managed to get some redemption by convincingly winning their home opener against the Berlin Adler (71–20) in front of over 6000 spectators, the Berlin Rebels continued to raise expectations by narrowly beating the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes 19–17 at home. The Adler meanwhile went on the road against the Hamburg Huskies beating them 17–14 to the surprise of many observers, who had seen the Adler as without a chance given their performance in Dresden. This also showed that the defeats in the EFL were not a fluke for Hamburg and Kiel. In the South the Allgäu Comets managed to reduce the costly errors late in the game that had cost them many narrow games in the previous season to beat Stuttgart 30–24 at home after a 29–62 road win against Munich in which Grant Isdale made five Touchdowns in a single half. The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns returned from their lopsided loss to Tirol to beat the Marburg Mercenaries 56–25. Hildesheim won their first game after being promoted against Düsseldorf (51–20) but lost the next game in Braunschweig in a lopsided 52–7. Whereas Dresden went on the road to Kiel to get their first defeat of the season (35–30). The game was decided late when Dresden failed to convert four times on their last drive. Stuttgart lost at home to Frankfurt (43–49) in an offensive slugfest with defensive errors on both sides giving Universe their first ever GFL win. The rematch of Kiel-Dresden took place in Dresden and as many times before Dresden delivered revenge on their foes from the Baltic, jumping up to a 21–0 lead in the first quarter and putting the game out of reach by halftime (35–0) keeping Kiel off the scoreboard until the second half before finally prevailing 56–14. In the South Munich fell to the Allgäu Comets once more losing 42–10 on the road. While Schwäbisch Hall prevailed 37–14 at home over the Saarland Hurricanes reducing the number of undefeated teams in the South to two. Frankfurt meanwhile had no problem dispatching of their European adversary
Badalona Dracs (49–7) and thus the second German team advanced to a European Final - after four German teams had stood in the two European finals the previous season. After their convincing home win against Kiel, the Dresden Monarchs had to go on the road to top rival Braunschweig and despite bringing them closer to defeat than any other team in that season thus far, they ultimately lost 33–26, despite leading by a point at the half. Frankfurt meanwhile showed their potential by going on the road to Kempten beating the Allgäu Comets 10–0 in a defense heavy game with heavy rain affecting the play of both teams. The only Touchdown in the Frankfurt Kempten game came of a special teams play. Hall beat the Mercenaries on the road (49–20) thus staying the only team in the south to have a perfect winning percentage in league games. The Huskies meanwhile finally got their first win of the season beating Düsseldorf on the road 31–20. ==League tables==