However, as the 2020 season was never played due to Covid-19, and with competition from a Hamburg based team in the upstart European League of Football ("ELF") worsening the doubtful financial situation, the Fighting Pirates ultimately withdrew from the GFL without ever having played a single match in their "theoretical" year of league membership.
[1] Unlike the Hildesheim Invaders and the Ingolstadt Dukes who took similar decisions after failing to move their teams to the upstart European League of Football and went on to play in their respective (third tier) Regionalliga, the Fighting Pirates ultimately played only in the sixth tier Landesliga West The Fighting Pirates were formed in 1991 and entered the German league competition one year later.
In the following promotion game, they defeated Düsseldorf Panther and qualified for the German Football League.
Having taken a financial and emotional hit from Covid, the still unclear situation going into 2021 and coaches like Andreas Nommensen as well as Sportdirektor Max Paatz[3] leaving for the Hamburg Sea Devils of the new European League of Football[4] and the threat of many players following them[5] ultimately led to the decision being taken that Elmshorn would not play in the GFL in 2021.
Due to not yet having a reserve team (their foundation had been planned for 2020/21), the Fighting Pirates had to restart in the sixth tier Landesliga West.