On Wednesday, the NFL announced that it will host a regular season game in Munich, Germany, for the first time ever in its history.
Next season will see five regular-season NFL games being played internationally. Three of these games will take place in London; one in Mexico; one in Germany.
The league had previously been looking at three potential German host cities, Munich Frankfurt and Dusseldorf. It hoped to host its first games there no later than 2023. On Wednesday, however, the NFL announced that it would host its first ever regular-season match in mainland Europe later in the year.
The NFL will host its first fixture next season at the Allianz Arena, Munich. It will then host the Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt in the 2023. In 2024, the league will return to Munich and Frankfurt respectively in 2025.
Goodell stated that “We are very happy to welcome Munich and Frankfurt into the NFL family” and added that he was excited to reward his fans in Germany with regular-season NFL football. This statement came ahead of Super Bowl LVI which takes place in Los Angeles on Sunday.
“We look forwards to hosting our first game in Germany at Bayern Munich’s stadium later this year, as well as exploring possibilities for further collaboration with Bundesliga.”
Next season’s International Series will be the first time that the NFL has visited Germany since 1994, when it hosted five preseason games.
There were also a few host cities in the country for teams participating in the NFL’s international competitions (the World League of American Football and NFL Europe), which took place between 1991 and 2007. However, Munich was not involved in this period.
The league announced December that 18 teams have been granted access to marketing, fan engagement, commercialization in eight countries.
The total number of four teams is 4. Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots Tampa Bay Buccaneers— were allowed access to Germany. The NFL released a statement saying that the NFL would ensure that franchises could play in their international markets.
The NFL resumed its International Series last season after the 2020 Series was cancelled due to travel restrictions related to coronavirus. In October, there were two games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Atlanta FalconsBeat the New York JetsThen, follow by Jacksonville JaguarsVictory over the Miami DolphinsThe game was over a week later. This was the NFL’s 30th London-based game since 2007, when the Series began.
NFL owners approved a resolution last summer to guarantee four international games each season beginning in 2022 in the United Kingdom. All 32 NFL teams were required to play at least one international game every eight years.
The Green Bay PackersThey are the only team that has never played in an international fixture.