| BRITISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE |
This is a fantasy football league created by Alex Thomas that is 'affiliated' with the NFL and uses team names from defunct teams to highlight his love of the game of Gridiron Football and the NFL but does not own the rights to the teams and their logos which are used for entertainment purposes only.
| SEASONS |
| TEAMS |
| PLAYOFFS |
| LOGOS | |
|---|---|
 |
2015-2019 |
 |
2020-2024 |
|
2025- |
2025 BFL logo is AI generated.
| TEAMS |
 |
BRITISH CONFERENCE |
|---|---|
 |
UNITED CONFERENCE |
The league is made up of 16 teams split into two conferences made up of 2 divisions of 4 teams each, who are 'affiliated' with an NFL team as per the final standings following the close of the previous season, in alphabetical order per BFL/NFL city/region as per the final 8 per the AFC/NFC.
Cities/regions were initially chosen around UK capital cities (Cardiff, Edinburgh & London) and then main UK cities (Birmingham, Brighton, Leeds, Manchester & Newcastle). Expansion was then introduced to North and South locations close to current sites to aid 'rivalries' and this will be the process for future expansion beyond the current 16 teams.
The BFL limits expansion as this keeps the league competitive so that the same NFL affiliates are not linked to the same BFL teams each season which could potentially hinder their playoff chances.
Teams are primarily given names from leagues past and present, with a few associated to the region they prepresent i.e. Sherwood Forest, Tyneside and Yorkshire. Welsh Dragons, despite using an inspired logo from the defunct New York Dragons Arena Football team, are associated with the Dragon emblem from their national flag. To give the league its own identity, redesigned logos were intorduced for the 2025 season.
| EXPANSION | # |
|---|---|
| 2015-2018 | 8 |
| 2019-2020 | 10 |
| 2021-2024 | 12 |
| 2025- | 16 |
| 2015-2018 | 8 | Birmingham Bandits London Monarchs MANCHESTER DEMONS SCOTTISH CLAYMORES Sussex Pirates TYNESIDE MARINERS Welsh Dragons YORKSHIRE VIKINGS |
|---|---|
| 2019-2020 | |
| 10 | Birmingham Bandits London Monarchs MANCHESTER DEMONS SCOTTISH CLAYMORES Sussex Pirates TYNESIDE MARINERS Welsh Dragons YORKSHIRE VIKINGS |
CALEDONIAN KNIGHTS (E) Sherwood Forest Outlaws (E) |
|
| 2021-2024 | |
| 12 | Birmingham Bandits CALEDONIAN KNIGHTS London Monarchs MANCHESTER DEMONS SCOTTISH CLAYMORES Sherwood Forest Outlaws Sussex Pirates TYNESIDE MARINERS Welsh Dragons YORKSHIRE VIKINGS |
Merseyside Centurions (E) Thames Valley Thunder (E) |
|
| 2025- | |
| 16 | Avon Fire Birmingham Bandits CALEDONIAN KNIGHTS Humberside Destroyers London Monarchs MANCHESTER DEMONS Merseyside Centurions SCOTTISH CLAYMORES Sherwood Forest Outlaws Sussex Pirates Thames Valley Thunder TYNESIDE MARINERS Welsh Dragons YORKSHIRE VIKINGS |
Avon Fire (E) Humberside Destroyers (E) LEICESTER STALLIONS (E) SHEFFIELD SURGE (E) |
|
| PLAYOFFS |
Tyneside Mariners remain the only Playoff team yet to win a game and leaves expansion teams Avon Fire and Sheffield Surge yet to qualify based on 14 teams now having qualified overall.
|
BRITISH CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS |
|---|---|
|
UNITED CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS |
 |
BFL Bowl |
| TEAMS | # |
|---|---|
| 2015-2019 | 4 |
| 2019-2024 | 6 |
| 2025- | 8 |
Since 2025, and prior to the 2020 season, the top two division teams contested the individual division finals, making up 8 teams and meaning that the Division champions no longer receives a bye into their Division Final (2015-2018) but instead will automatically host the Conference Semi-Finals. From 2015-2019, the playoffs were made up of 4 teams and expanded to 6 from 2019-2024.
Top 4 per conference (8 teams) qualify for the playoffs, made up of the Conference Semi-Finals and Championship for the 2025 season with winners playing in the BFL Bowl, previously known as the BFL Championship Game (2015-2024).
See BFL Rules 2-4 for further details.
The BFL Standings can be found here and the individual NFL affiliates are shown below the BFL team.
All playoff pages show '@' for away games and 'VS' for home games, with teams designated Home/Away on a Conference (previously Division) affiliation starting with the North Division in 2015.
Dates listed on the Conference Playoffs pages including the BFL Bowl are based on the NFL's season schedule but there maybe a delay in these being updated on the BFL site due to the time difference.
|
BFL Bowl |
|---|
2025 BFL Bowl will be played against the 2 x BFL Champions (last won in 2016) Birmingham Bandits and the first time finalists Humberside Destroyers.
December 7 2025: NFL Week 14 games - Bills (Game link) & Packers (Game link)
BFL Bowl began with the 2025 BFL Season, having been known as the BFL Championship Game from 2015-2024.
Wembley Stadium, London is the designated host with the designated home team on conference rotation per highest seed.
The game is contested by the British & United Conferences' champions.
Dates are in order of the winners followed by the losers NFL affiliate teams.
| 2025 BFL CHAMPIONS | MOST TITLES |
|---|---|
 HUMBERSIDE DESTROYERS (1) |
 SCOTTISH CLAYMORES (4) |
BFL Championship Game |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GAME | DATE | WINNER | SCORE | LOSER | STADIUM |
1 |
DECEMBER 6, 2015 |  BIRMINGHAM BANDITS (1)  |
27 @ 17 |  MANCHESTER DEMONS  |
 WEMBLEY STADIUM LONDON,UK |
2 |
DECEMBER 4, 2016 | BIRMINGHAM BANDITS (2) |
31 VS 20 | SCOTTISH CLAYMORES |
|
3 |
DECEMBER 3, 2017 | SCOTTISH CLAYMORES (1)  |
23 VS 9 | BIRMINGHAM BANDITS  |
|
4 |
DECEMBER 3, 2018 | SCOTTISH CLAYMORES (2)  |
40 @ 30 | BIRMINGHAM BANDITS  |
|
5 |
DECEMBER 2, NOVEMBER 28, 2019 |
SCOTTISH CLAYMORES (3) |
23 VS 12 |  WELSH DRAGONS  |
|
6 |
DECEMBER 25 & 27, 2020 |
 SHERWOOD FOREST OUTLAWS (1)  |
52 VS 27 |  CALEDONIAN KNIGHTS  |
|
7 |
DECEMBER 26 & 25, 2021 |
SCOTTISH CLAYMORES (4) |
36 VS 24 |  LONDON MONARCHS  |
|
8 |
DECEMBER 24, 2022 | LONDON MONARCHS (1)  |
40 VS 35 | CALEDONIAN KNIGHTS  |
|
9 |
DECEMBER 25 & 24, 2023+ |
 SUSSEX PIRATES (1)  |
40 @ 36(OT) | CALEDONIAN KNIGHTS |
|
10 |
DECEMBER 22, 2024 | LONDON MONARCHS (2)  |
34 VS 24 | MANCHESTER DEMONS |
|
BFL Bowl |
|||||
11 |
DECEMBER 7, 2025 | HUMBERSIDE DESTROYERS (1) |
39 VS 28 | BIRMINGHAM BANDITS |
WEMBLEY STADIUM LONDON,UK |
OVERTIME
2023 + - Both teams were drawn 33-33 at the end of regular time, therefore both teams' 1st quarter points were used to decide OT - Caledonian Knights (3) & Sussex Pirates (7)
| STANDINGS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | REC | A | RT | RA | ||
|
SCOTTISH CLAYMORES | 4-1 | 5 | 2021 | 2021 | |
|
LONDON MONARCHS | 2-1 | 3 | 2024 | 2024 | |
|
BIRMINGHAM BANDITS | 2-3 | 5 | 2016 | 2025 | |
|
humberside destroyers | 1-0 | 1 | 2025 | 2025 | |
|
SUSSEX PIRATES | 1-0 | 1 | 2023 | 2023 | |
|
SHERWOOD FOREST OUTLAWS | 1-0 | 1 | 2020 | 2020 | |
|
MANCHESTER DEMONS | 0-2 | 2 | 0 | 2024 | |
|
CALEDONIAN KNIGHTS | 0-3 | 3 | 0 | 2023 | |
|
WELSH DRAGONS | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 2019 | |
| No Appearances | ||||||
 |
AVON FIRE | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
 |
leicester Stallions | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
 |
Merseyside Centurions | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
 |
Sheffield Surge | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
 |
Thames Valley Thunder | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
 |
Tyneside Mariners | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
 |
Yorkshire Vikings | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
- Most victories: 4* Scottish Claymores (2017,2018,2019,2021)
- Most losses: 3* Caledonian Knights (2020,2022,2023)
- Most appearances: 6* Scottish Claymores (2016,2017,2018,2019,2021)
- Most consecutive appearances: 4* Birmingham Bandits (2015,2016,2017,2018)
- Most consecutive victories: 3* Scottish Claymores (2017,2018,2019)
- Most consecutive losses: 2**
- Birmingham Bandits (2017,2018)
- Caledonian Knights (2022,2023)
- Most common matchups:
- Scottish Claymores vs Birmingham Bandits (2016,2017,2018)
- Longest Title drought (in seasons): 8* Birmingham Bandits (2016)
- *Tied for CBFL record
- **BFL record
Notes: