World Bowl XIII World Bowl XIII was NFL Europe ' s 2005 championship game . It was played at the LTU arena in Düsseldorf , Germany on June 11 , 2005 . In this match - up , the 6 - 4 Amsterdam Admirals managed to get back to the World Bowl after losing in World Bowl III and spending nearly a decade being on the outside . Now , they had a chance to dig deep and win big . Their opponent for the match - up was the Berlin Thunder , who were coming off their best year ( 9 - 1 and a victory in World Bowl XII ) and made it back to the World Bowl with a 7 - 3 record , hoping to defend their title . 35 , 134 fans were in attendance for the fight . After many years of suffering , the Admirals won their very first World Bowl title by stripping the defending champion Thunder of their title , by a final score of 27 - 21 . Taking home MVP honors was Admirals QB Kurt Kittner , who went 15 of 28 for 239 yards with 2 touchdown s and no interception s . Background . The Admirals won the first meeting 31 - 27 in Amsterdam , while the Thunder took the second meeting 27 - 16 in Berlin . Game summary . The Admirals drew first blood on their opening possession as Admirals QB Kurt Kittner lead his team on a 9 - play , 68 - yard drive and capped it off with a 22 - yard TD pass to WR Ruvell Martin . It would turn out to be the only score of the first quarter . In the second quarter , the Admirals would quickly add to their lead . They used their first full possession of the period on just one play , but it would be swift and painful , as Amsterdam took advantage of a fumble recovery to take control at Berlin ' s 12 - yard line . Afterwards , Kittner threw a 12 - yard TD pass to TE Mike Gomez . On their next possession , the Admirals continued to pour it on , as his Admirals stopped a 4th down conversion from the Thunder and took over with good field position ( Berlin ' s 27 - yard line ) . Despite the good position , the Thunder defense finally stiffened and the Admirals had to settle for a 32 - yard field goal by kicker Chris Snyder . The Berlin Thunder would finally be able to get on the board near the end of the half , as Thunder QB Dave Ragone led his team on a 4 - play , 51 - yard drive and capped it off with a 10 - yard pass to WR Aaron Boone . Despite the impressive resurgence , the first half belonged to Amsterdam as they lead 17 - 7 at halftime . In the third quarter , the Admirals continued to show how much they want Berlin ' s crown by striking on their opening drive . Kittner lead his team on a 4 - play , 80 - yard drive that ended with RB Jonathan Smith running 18 well - earned yards for a TD . Trailing 24 - 7 going into the fourth quarter , the Thunder needed a lot of points in a hurry , if they wanted to defend their title . Continuing a drive that begin in the final seconds of the third quarter , Ragone led his team on a 5 - play , 80 - yard drive that concluded with a 10 - yard TD pass to RB Little John Flowers . However , the Admirals continued to put the game further out of reach , as they responded with a 28 - yard field goal by Snyder . Ragone and his Thunder would respond with a 10 - play , 78 - yard drive and get a TD with Ragone himself running in on a 10 - yard QB sneak . With another long drive the Berlin Thunder set themselves up near the redzone again , where the Admirals forced the Berlin Thunder to 4th down with 5 seconds to spare . That final play ended with Norman LeJeune writing history for the Amsterdam Admirals when he batted away a Dave Ragone pass intended for WR Redd . The Admirals managed to pull off an upset by taking down the defending champions and win their very first World Bowl title .