NFL announces first regular-season game in Germany

The National Football League announced Wednesday that Germany will host a league game for the first time in 2022.

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According to a news release, the league confirmed that Munich will host a game in the NFL’s International Series in November, one of two times the city will host a game in Germany over the next four seasons. Frankfort also will host two games.

FC Bayern Munich Stadium, the home of the Bundesliga soccer champions, will host the game in 2022 and 2024, while Frankfurt Stadium will host the game in 2023 and 2025.

“We are very pleased to welcome Munich and Frankfurt to the NFL family and are excited to reward our fans in Germany for their passion by bringing them the spectacle of regular-season NFL football,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We look forward to staging our first game in Germany at FC Bayern Munich’s fantastic stadium later this year and to exploring areas of broader collaboration with the Bundesliga.”

The 2022 game in Munich will be one of five hosted internationally by the NFL. One game is scheduled in Mexico and three are set for the United Kingdom.

It will be the first time the NFL has returned to Germany since it hosted five preseason games between 1990 and 1994, ESPN reported.

Germany has also been the site for the World League of American Football, NFL Europe and NFL Europa between 1991 and 2007.

Earlier Wednesday, the Jacksonville Jaguars said in a statement that they will return to London next season and play at Wembley Stadium as the home team, according to ESPN. The other two games will be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the NFL said in its news release.

The NFL added that home teams for the other international games will be announced in the coming weeks.

“We are very pleased to welcome the NFL International Series to Munich,” Dieter Reiter, Lord Mayor of Munich, said in a statement. “It is a great honor for the state capital Munich to be the first German city to stage a regular-season NFL game. Many Munich residents are big football fans and they will be thrilled that this spectacular sporting event is coming to their city.”

In December, the NFL announced that the Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been granted access to Germany for marketing, fan engagement and commercialization as part of its International Home Marketing Areas initiative.

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