The playoffs, play-offs, postseason and/or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament.
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivision had avoided using a playoff tournament to determine an annual national champion, which was instead traditionally determined by a vote of sports writers and other non-players. In place of such a playoff, various cities across the United States developed their own regional festivals featuring post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating teams. Despite attempts to establish a permanent system to determine the FBS national champion on the field, various bowl games continue to be held because of the vested economic interests entrenched in them.
Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups determining a true national champion.
The Playoff Bowl was a post-season game for third place in the National Football League (NFL), played ten times following the 1960 through 1969 seasons, all at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was originally known as the Runner-Up Bowl.
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Currently, seven teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs. A tie-breaking procedure exists if required. The tournament culminates in the Super Bowl: the league's championship game in which two teams, one from each conference, play each other to become champion of the NFL.
The National Football Conference – Northern Division or NFC North is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed the "Black and Blue Division" for the rough and tough rivalry games between the teams, it currently has four members: the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings. The NFC North was previously known as the NFC Central from 1970 to 2001. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were previously members, from 1977, one year after they joined the league as an expansion team, until 2001 when they moved to the NFC South.
The National Football Conference – South Division or NFC South is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created prior to the 2002 NFL season, when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams. The NFC South currently has four member clubs: the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL season, when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams. This is the only division in the NFL in which no member team has hosted a Super Bowl in their stadiums.
The American Football Conference – Western Division or AFC West is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division comprises the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, and Los Angeles Chargers.
The National Football Conference – Eastern Division or NFC East is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It currently has four members: the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Washington Football Team.
A wild card is a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that fails to qualify in the normal way, for example by having a high ranking or winning a qualifying stage. In some events, wild cards are chosen freely by the organizers. Other events have fixed rules. Some North American professional sports leagues compare the records of teams which did not qualify directly by winning a division or conference.
The Western Conference is one of two conferences in the National Hockey League (NHL) used to divide teams. Its counterpart is the Eastern Conference.
Delft Dragons are an American football team based in Delft, Netherlands.
The Amsterdam Crusaders are an American Football club from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Together with the Rotterdam Trojans and Alphen Eagles, Amsterdam Crusaders are the oldest surviving Dutch American Football club.
The Tulip Bowl is the final match in the season of the AFBN Division One, the top division of the American Football Bond Nederland (AFBN). The AFBN is the organisation responsible for American football in the Netherlands. The Tulip Bowl participants are determined through the playoffs and the match determines the Dutch champions in the sport of American football.
The AFBN is the governing body for American Football in the Netherlands. The AFBN was founded in 2001 after the merger of the rival leagues Nederlandse American Football Federatie (NAFF) and American Football League Nederland (AFLN).
The 010 Trojans (formerly known as Rotterdam Trojans are an American football team based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Founded in 1984, the Trojans are the second oldest surviving team in the Netherlands, behind the Amsterdam Crusaders. Upon foundation, the Trojans immediately joined the national American Football body at the time, the NAFF.
The 1969 American Football League season was the tenth and final regular season of the American Football League (AFL). To honor the AFL's tenth season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each Kansas City Chiefs player wore a patch on his jersey with the logo during Super Bowl IV, the final AFL-NFL World Championship Game prior to the AFL–NFL merger.
The Maastricht Wildcats of the AFBN is an American Football League team from Maastricht. They play in the Dutch 1st division and are rivals with the Amsterdam Crusaders. They won the 2007 Dutch National Championship by defeating the Amsterdam Crusaders 25-16 in the Tulip Bowl. In 2004, the Wildcats, coached by Mel Crandall, won the 3rd Division Championship and advanced to the 2nd division. Then, in the 2005 season, they won the 2nd division championship and advanced to the 1st division.
The AFBN's Eredivisie is the top division of American football in the Netherlands. The league currently consists of 8 teams from different cities of the Netherlands. At the end of each regular season, the top two teams from each "pool" play in the playoffs, a four-team single-elimination tournament that culminates with the championship game, known as the Tulip Bowl.
Netherlands