This year sees American Football continue its bid to become even more popular in other parts of the world. This includes a series of NFL matches taking place in London next season.

It was 17 years ago when the NFL first held a match at the famous Wembley Stadium in London. On that occasion it was the New York Giants who had a narrow 13-10 win over the Miami Dolphins.

The following five years also saw two NFL sides make the trip across the pond to play at Wembley. There were wins for the San Diego Chargers, New England Patriots (in both 2009 and 2012), the Denver Broncos and the Chicago Bears.

Those five matches featured some more tightly contested matches apart from in 2009. Making their UK debut, the New England Patriots had a convincing 35-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Such was the success of these matches, 2013 saw two NFL games being held at Wembley Stadium but still no matches for the Packers. That was even the case between 2014 and 2016 when three matches were played in England.  2016 saw the first match played at Twickenham, the home of English Rugby Union.

2017 saw the number of games increased to four with three at Wembley and the other at Twickenham. Close matches weren’t the order of the day though. How disappointed must the Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins have been that year? They went all the way to England and couldn’t even score a point.

The NFL continued to stage matches in the UK on a yearly basis until the pandemic came along. 2020 didn’t see any matches held but they returned the following year.

It wasn’t until 2022 that the Packers finally got to play there. They became the 32nd NFL team to play in London. However, it was not to be a trip to either Wembley Stadium or Twickenham.

Instead, they played at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London with the New York Giants being their opponents. The venue usually sees Tottenham playing soccer in the English Premier League. They’d previously been playing home games at Wembley Stadium while waiting for their new ground to be completed.

The match took place on October 9, 2022 and the Packers arrived in London with a 3-1 record. They’d lost in Minnesota in their opening fixture of the new season. Home wins against the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots, plus a win on the road at the Buccaneers followed.

It wasn’t to be a winning debut in London as the Giants won the match 27-22. That was the first of five successive defeats for the Packers.

Last year saw three NFL matches being held and it proved to be a successful time for the Jacksonville Jaguars with two wins. They had wins over the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills. The other match saw the Baltimore Ravens get a 24-16 win over the Tennessee Titans. The Jaguars have now played 11 matches in London.

Now the clock is counting down to the matches that have been announced for 2024. One will be played at Wembley Stadium (with the Jaguars making their return) with the other two at the Tottenham Hotspur ground with the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings confirmed to host those matches.

With NFL matches returning to London in 2024, betting sites are gearing up with enticing offers. Fans eagerly anticipate matchups at iconic venues like Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur ground, while speculation swirls around potential opponents, including long-awaited appearances by teams like the New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers, adding an extra layer of excitement to the upcoming season.


Just who their opponents will be isn’t yet known. The New England Patriots haven’t had a fixture in London for 15 years so may well be one of the other sides. It’s 11 years since the 49ers who are the current favorites to win the next Super Bowl have ventured across the pond.

Could the Packers be one of the others? That’s unlikely because it has already been confirmed that on September 6 the Packers will be traveling to Brazil for an NFL match. They’ll be facing the Philadelphia Eagles at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo. That’s a venue used by the Brazilian Serie A side Corinthians.

This will be the opening match of the new season and unlike any they’ve played. It’ll be a Friday fixture Just getting there is going to be difficult enough

As many as eight international matches could be played in the future. As well as England and Brazil, matches this year there’s also a match in Germany with the Carolina Panthers confirmed as hosts.at the Allianz Stadium.

Growing the sport overseas is important for the NFL. The matches that have been played in London have been resounding successes. Over 80,000 fans have been attending the matches played at Wembley Stadium with tickets very hard to get hold of. NFL statistics show that the matches at Wembley saw just 3 percent of those attending being either Americans or American expatriates.