As the name suggests, American Football is the most American of sports. Whilst the game is played elsewhere, including here in the UK, no American Football competition comes close to the scale of the NFL. The biggest teams, headline players, and entire history of the gridiron game reside in the USA. However, that doesn’t mean the NFL isn’t popular with spectators elsewhere in the world.
From the UK to Australia, and many nations in between, fans follow the road to the Super Bowl in ever-increasing numbers. This international popularity, which began in the 1980s and has reached an all-time high in the 21st century, has encouraged the NFL to spread its wings.
In the modern era of the NFL, legions of fans outside the USA tune into the latest matches on TV. However, supporters in many nations may now find the action playing out much closer to home. Launched in 2007, the NFL International Series sees regular season games take place at a selection of the most iconic stadiums on the planet, with UK venues, including Wembley Stadium, leading the way.
International Series Origins
The NFL has long-held ambitions to extend its global appeal. This desire to reach out to an international audience led to ventures such as the American Bowl and NFL Europe.
Designed to promote the NFL on foreign soil, American Bowl games were a series of preseason exhibition matches which took place around the world. The first American Bowl saw the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys head to Wembley Stadium in 1986, with the final matchup seeing the Atlanta Falcons and the Indianapolis Colts do battle at the Tokyo Dome in 2005. That 29-year span featured 39 games split between the host nations of the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Spain, and Japan.
Building on the World League of American Football, which began in 1989 and included teams from Europe, Canada, and second-tier sides in the US, the all-European NFL Europe ran from 1995 to 2007. Featuring teams such as the London Monarchs, Barcelona Dragons, and Frankfurt Galaxy, the season culminated in the NFL Europe version of the Super Bowl, known as the World Bowl. While competitive, NFL Europe was widely regarded as a developmental league for the NFL and couldn’t match the standard of play of its US counterpart. To truly capture the imagination of a global audience, the NFL would need to provide overseas crowds with access to the elite NFL franchises.
With that in mind, the first overseas NFL regular season game took place at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on October 2, 2005. Known as the Futbol Americano, the clash between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers attracted a huge crowd of 103,467 – a record for an NFL regular season game at the time.
The Growth of the International Series
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Following the success in Mexico, the NFL decided to make an overseas regular-season game a permanent fixture of the schedule, and so the International Series was born.
Having staged the inaugural American Bowl, Wembley Stadium provided the stage for the first International Series game, which saw the New York Giants beat the Miami Dolphins 13-10 on 28 October 2007.
Consistently attracting 80,000+ crowds, the International Series consisted of a single game played at Wembley each season between 2007 and 2012. From there, the International Series has steadily grown. Mexico staged its first International Series game in 2016, with the extravaganza later expanding to Germany (2022), Brazil (2024), Ireland (2025), and Spain (2025). Here in the UK, games have now taken place at Wembley Stadium, Twickenham, and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
With more nations joining the series, the number of International Series fixtures has steadily increased each year, with a record nine games scheduled for the 2026 season.
NFL International Series Fixtures by Year
- 2007 – 1: Wembley Stadium, London
- 2008 – 1: Wembley Stadium, London
- 2009 – 1: Wembley Stadium, London
- 2010 – 1: Wembley Stadium, London
- 2011 – 1: Wembley Stadium, London
- 2012 – 1: Wembley Stadium, London
- 2013 – 2: Wembley Stadium, London (2 Games)
- 2014 – 3: Wembley Stadium, London (3 Games)
- 2015 – 3: Wembley Stadium, London (3 Games)
- 2016 – 4: Wembley Stadium, London (2 Games), Twickenham Stadium, London, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City
- 2017 – 5: Wembley Stadium, London (2 Games), Twickenham Stadium, London (2 Games), Estadio Azteca, Mexico City
- 2018 – 3: Wembley Stadium, London (3 Games)
- 2019 – 5: Wembley Stadium, London (2 Games), Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London (2 Games), Estadio Azteca, Mexico City
- 2020 – 0: (Covid-19)
- 2021 – 2: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London (2 Games)
- 2022 – 5: Wembley Stadium, London, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London (2 Games), Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Allianz Arena, Munich
- 2023 – 5: Wembley Stadium, London, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London (2 Games), Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt (2 Games)
- 2024 – 5: Wembley Stadium, London, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London (2 Games), Allianz Arena, Munich, Arena Corinthians, São Paulo
- 2025 – 7: Wembley Stadium, London, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London (2 Games), Arena Corinthians, São Paulo, Olympiastadion, Berlin, Bernabéu, Madrid, Croke Park, Dublin
How Are the International Series Games Selected?
In the single-game stage of the International Series (2007 to 2012), the NFL selected a clash based on factors including the willingness of owners to sacrifice a home fixture and travel abroad, the marketability of the franchises, and maintaining competitive balance in the schedule.
In 2013, the Jacksonville Jaguars committed to playing one game in London each year. Following this commitment, the NFL began to expand the number of International Series games and venture into new territories.
The next big development came in 2021, when the NFL increased the number of regular-season games from 16 to 17. Under this new model, the AFC teams play nine home games in one season, with the NFC teams playing nine home games the next. When selecting the International Series games, the NFL aims to choose home games from the conference with the additional home game that year. Under this system, every NFL franchise is guaranteed to play in at least one International Series game every eight years.
Looking to the future, there has been talk of the NFL switching to an 18-game regular season, whereby all 32 franchises would play in at least one International Series game per season. Rumours also persist of an NFL Franchise permanently relocating overseas, with the Jacksonville Jaguars taking up residence in London being the most frequently mentioned possibility.
How to Watch the NFL International Series in the UK
Given the increasing global appeal of the NFL, International Series games tend to sell out in double-quick time. UK viewers looking to tune into the International Series from the comfort of the sofa have the following options:
Channel 5/5ACTION
Free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5 has the rights to two weekly Sunday Games, plus all International Series games played in London or Dublin, the Thanksgiving Day games, and the Super Bowl.
Sky Sports
The long-standing home of the NFL in the UK, Sky Sports’ extensive coverage includes every International Series game played in London or elsewhere in Europe. Sky NFL comes as part of the standard Sky Sports package, and includes Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and every Thursday Night Football game.
NFL Game Pass
Possibly the best option for those looking to tune in to every International Series game wherever it is played. An NFL Game Pass subscription promises access to every game of the regular season, the playoffs and the Super Bowl. The NFL Game Pass is available on a pay-monthly basis via DAZN and Amazon Prime.