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TEAMS |
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The league is made up of 16 teams split into two conferences made up of 2 divisions of 4 teams each.
Avon Fire, Humberside Destroyers, Sheffield Surge and Leicester Stallions will join for the 2025 season to increase to 16 teams.
Top 4 per conference (8 teams) qualify for the playoffs, with Divisional Conference Semi-Finals for the 2025 season.
NORTHERN CONFERENCE |
|
|---|---|
| NORTH DIVISION | 2015 |
| WEST DIVISION | 2025 |
SOUTHERN CONFERENCE |
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| central DIVISION | 2025 |
| SOUTH DIVISION | 2015 |
| 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) |
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| 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) |
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(E) - Expansion Team
TEAM NAMES
Teams are primarily given names from leagues past and present, others are based on unrelated college football teams and one is not inspired by any current team past or present. Names in brackets are those where BFL teams have received inspiration for their name or logo.
As this league began in 2015, the Tampa Bay Bandits (USFL 1983) had not existed since the planned 1986 season and therefore they are not to be confused with the recently relaunched Tampa Bay Bandits and are inspired by the previous incarnation of this team.
* - 2025 expansion team.
Due to the UFL owning the rights to the former USFL (2022) & XFL (2023) teams, these nicknames are therefore not in contention to be used for expansion teams.
These are the regions represented by each team which means that future expansion may overlap these regions similar to that in Scotland. The city in brackets represents the location of the team unless stated by the team name.
| TEAM | LEAGUE | REGIONS |
|---|---|---|
| AVON FIRE* |
RHEIN FIRE (NFL EUROPA 1995-2007) |
South West England (BRISTOL) |
| BIRMINGHAM BANDITS |
TAMPA BAY BANDITS (USFL 1983) |
West Midlands |
| Caledonian Knights |
NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY KNIGHTS (WLAF) |
Western Scotland (Glasgow) |
| HUMBERSIDE DESTROYERS* |
NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY HITMEN (XFL 2001) VIRGINIA DESTROYERS (UFL 2009-2012) |
Hull & Humberside including North East Lincolnshire (HULL) |
| LEICESTER STALLIONS* |
BALTIMORE STALLIONS (CFL 1994-1995) |
Leicestershire |
| LONDON MONARCHS |
London Monarchs (NFL EUROPA) |
Capital region including Surrey, Essex & Kent |
| MANCHESTER DEMONS |
SAN FRANCISCO DEMONS (XFL 2001) |
Greater Manchester including Cheshire & Lancashire |
| Merseyside Centurions |
COLOGNE CENTURIONS (NFL EUROPA) |
Merseyside (Liverpool) |
| Scottish Claymores |
Scottish Claymores (NFL EUROPA) |
Eastern Scotland (Edinburgh) |
| SHEFFIELD SURGE* |
SACRAMENTO SURGE (WLAF 1991-1992) |
South Yorkshire |
| SHERWOOD FOREST OUTLAWS |
NO LEAGUE | East Midlands (Nottingham) |
| SUSSEX PIRATES |
PEORIA PIRATES (ARENA FOOTBALL 2) |
East & West Sussex (Brighton) |
| Thames Valley Thunder |
BERLIN THUNDER (NFL EUROPA) |
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire (Milton Keynes) |
| TYNESIDE MARINERS |
NAVY MIDSHIPMEN (COLLEGE FOOTBALL) |
North & South Tyneside (Newcastle) |
| WELSH DRAGONS |
NEW YORK DRAGONS (ARENA FOOTBALL 2) |
Wales (Cardiff) |
| YORKSHIRE VIKINGS |
BRIGHAM YOUNG COUGARS (COLLEGE FOOTBALL) |
N,S,E & W Yorkshire (Leeds) |
EXPANSION TEAMS
Expansion is limited to the 32 NFL teams each team can be affiliated with but at present limited to 16 teams.
Leicester & Sheffield are the additional expansion teams that can either be named after teams in defunct leagues (AAF, CFL-USA, NFL EUROPA, UFL (2009-2012) & XFL (2001)), names linked to the city/region and a previous nickname but with a different logo i.e. Humberside Destroyers which uses the Virginia Destroyers name but uses a stylised version of the New York/New Jersey Hitmen (XFL 2001).
NFL AFFILIATES
As of the 2025 season, 31 teams have been affiliated with BFL teams.
1 team (Kansas City Chiefs) are the most common affiliate with 10 appearances.
1 team (New York Jets) has yet to be affiliated.
| TEAM | # | RECENT SEASON | |
|---|---|---|---|
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KANSAS CITY CHIEFS | 10 | 2025 |
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LOS ANGELES RAMS | 7 | 2025 |
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NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS | 7 | 2022 |
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BUFFALO BILLS | 6 | 2025 |
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GREEN BAY PACKERS | 6 | 2025 |
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SEATTLE SEAHAWKS | 6 | 2025 |
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DALLAS COWBOYS | 6 | 2024 |
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BALTIMORE RAVENS | 5 | 2025 |
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PITTSBURGH STEELERS | 5 | 2025 |
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TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS | 5 | 2025 |
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CINCINNATI BENGALS | 4 | 2025 |
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HOUSTON TEXANS | 4 | 2025 |
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MINNESOTA VIKINGS | 4 | 2025 |
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PHILADELPHIA EAGLES | 4 | 2025 |
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SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS | 4 | 2024 |
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NEW ORLEANS SAINTS | 4 | 2021 |
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DENVER BRONCOS | 3 | 2025 |
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LOS ANGELES CHARGERS | 3 | 2025 |
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ARIZONA CARDINALS | 3 | 2022 |
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DETROIT LIONS | 2 | 2025 |
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NEW YORK GIANTS | 2 | 2023 |
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CLEVELAND BROWNS | 2 | 2024 |
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JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS | 2 | 2023 |
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LAS VEGAS RAIDERS | 2 | 2022 |
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TENNESSEE TITANS | 2 | 2022 |
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CHICAGO BEARS | 2 | 2021 |
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INDIANAPOLIS COLTS | 2 | 2019 |
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1 | 2025 | |
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MIAMI DOLPHINS | 1 | 2024 |
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ATLANTA FALCONS | 1 | 2017 |
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CAROLINA PANTHERS | 1 | 2016 |
NO APPEARANCES |
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