NFL International Series

What is the NFL International Series ?

The National Football League has a massive fan base in the States, that goes without saying. To reach a wider audience across the pond and beyond the NFL decided to promote the National Football league by staging a series of regular season games outside of the USA. The idea came about after pre-season games were played around the world and following the first regular season game outside of the United States which took place In October 2005 with the Arizona Cardinals defeating the San Francisco 49ers 31-14 in the Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico.

From 2007, the NFL went on the road to the UK so the NFL fans across the water got a chance to see an NFL game live at Wembley Stadium. The first-ever NFL London Games matchup took place in October of 2007 when the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins travelled over to play in front of 81,176 fans with a pre-game show from The Feeling. The NFL International series is very popular in the UK, tickets have been reported as selling out nine months in advance just two days after going on sale!

The NFL Mexico Game re-joined the regular NFL International Series roster in 2016 with the Estadio Azteca hosting one regular season game each year and 2022 saw Germany added to the list of countries hosting an official NFL game, the Allianz Arena in Munich being the Stadium venue.

How can I bet on the NFL International Series games ?

If you are a novice when it comes to placing NFL wagers then take a few minutes to read our How to choose the right NFL betting site for you guide which covers a list of the legalized best football betting sites and the states where it is safe to place sportsbook bets online or with best sportsbook betting apps. The guide also has the latest sportsbook sign up offers and new customer promos.

Can I place NFL parlay bets on the International Series?

Yes you can perm your picks in a parlay bet, take a look at our Parlay Bet Tips Guide to see how the NFL parlays work and the easy way to calculate your parlay odds before placing your football bets.  Before you finalise your NFL International Series selections check out our Best Football Handicappers thoughts and NFL International Series predictions, these handicappers are the top performing experts for football picks over the last 12 months.

What NFL Teams are playing in London in 2023?

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Atlanta Falcons

Sunday 1st October (Week 4)

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London (09:30 CST)

The 2023 NFL London games kick off in week 4 of the NFL regular season schedule with the Atlanta Falcons hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 1st October. The Falcons are making their third appearance in the NFL London Series after a 1 point margin loss (22-21) at the hands of the Detroit Lions here at Wembley in 2014. They last visited London in 2021 with a 27-20 victory over the New York Jets at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Jaguars are making their tenth appearance in London and looking to register their fifth UK victory, their Wembley record is three wins from eight played with the latest visit resulting in a 21-17 defeat to the Denver Broncos in October 2022.

Buffalo Bills @ Jacksonville Jaguars

Sunday 8th October (Week 5)

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London (09:30 CST)

In Week 5, the Jacksonville Jaguars play their second London game within seven days as they host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday 8th October at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Jacksonville won on their only previous appearance at the Tottenham Stadium defeating the Miami Dolphins 23-20 in 2021. The Buffalo Bills are making just the second visit to London for a regular season game, their first ended in a 34-31 defeat to the Jaguars at Wembley in 2015.

Tennessee Titans @ Baltimore Ravens

Sunday 15th October (Week 6)

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London (08:30 CST)

The final game in the 2023 NFL London Games series is in Week 6 with the Baltimore Ravens hosting the Tennessee Titans at the Tottenham Stadium on Sunday 15th October. Baltimore's only previous visit to London for a regular season game ended in a heavy 44-7 defeat at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in 2017. Tennessee are also making their second London appearance and will too be looking to atone for a narrow 20-19 loss against the Los Angeles Chargers at Wembley in 2018.

Which Franchise has the best NFL London Games record?

There are a number of teams who are unbeaten in the London Series, the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants have the best 100% record having won on all three appearances, whilst the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers have visited twice and won on both occasions. The franchise with the most wins is the Jacksonville Jaguars who have been over the most, they have played nine games and have a 4-5 win/loss record.

Which Franchise has the worst NFL London Games record?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the worst record, they have been over three times and have been defeated in all three games. The Miami Dolphins have lost four times but they have been over five times and did pick up a win in 2014.

NFL London Games 2007-2012 (Wembley Stadium)

The NFL London Series (referred to as the NFL London Games since 2017) started in 2007 with that already mentioned game between the Giants and Dolphins which finished in a 13-10 win for the Giants. The series was set up with a 'Super bowl' feel to it by getting in a music act to perform before the game although in more recent years this has become less so due to there being multiple matches.

• 2007 - The Feeling
• 2008 - Stereophonics
• 2009 - Calvin Harris
• 2010 - My Chemical Romance
• 2011 - Goo Goo Dolls
• 2012 - Train

For the first six years of the London Games, it was a single game series, each game with the exception of 2011 was watched by an attendance of 81,000+ fans live at Wembley, the 2011 game between the Bears and Bucs had 76,941 fans in the stadium.

There is always a designated home team and visiting team and the teams designated at home did not have a great record, they went 2-4 over the six years with the 'Home' team averaging just 17.1 points compared to the 27.5 points averaged by the 'Visiting' team.

NFL London Games 2013-2015 (Multi-Games at Wembley Stadium)

The London Games up until 2012 remained a one-match series, however, in 2013 a second match was added and in 2014 it was expanded even further with a third match added which was also the case in 2015. These additional matches in 2013-15 were also played at Wembley Stadium, it was to allow even more fans to witness the NFL live in person!

In 2014 a total of 250,571 fans attended the games and in 2016 a total of 251,631 which meant in the two years, there were over half a million NFL fans attending the NFL London Games! The pre-game entertainment continued, on the whole, the exception was for the Jets/Dolphins game in 2015 which did not have any and the Ohio State University Marching Band came over in 2015 for the Bills/Jags game.

• 2013 - Tinie Tempah / Ne-Yo
• 2014 - Def Leppard / Little Mix / Joss Stone
• 2015 - Ohio State Marching Band / Madness

The theme of those designated as the 'Home' team struggling continued with a 3-5 record during this period, in 2014, all three designated home teams failed to win. The visitors average 28.5 points per game whilst the home team averages 23.6 points which were both up on the previous group of games, the home team scoring much more.

NFL London Games 2016-2023 (New Stadiums)

For 2016, it was announced that there would be an additional stadium added to the London Games, as well as Wembley, England's home of rugby, Twickenham would also host a game that would have a 75,000 capacity for the NFL.

The first NFL game to be played at Twickenham was the Giants & Rams matchup, a game which had an attendance of 74,121, 98.8% of the capacity who witnessed the Giants run over 17-10 winners, the other two matches were played at Wembley that year.

2017 saw a further expansion, for the first time we have four games live in the UK, two at Wembley and two at Twickenham and again the four games were sell-outs with 316,988 fans attending the games!

Twickenham was then dropped from the lineup in 2018 and the London Games were reduced back to three games, all of which were played at Wembley and all of which attracted crowds of 84k+ fans! In 2019, the new Tottenham stadium was added to the series which was expanded back to four games, two at the new stadium and two at Wembley.

The Wembley contract was up in 2020, the NFL International Series was looking to expand even further and unfortunately, no new agreement was reached with Wembley, meaning for 2021 we were reduced to two games in the UK, both of which were played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with no Wembley games for the first time since the series was created in 2007.

The 2022 NFL London Games sees Wembley return to the Stadium roster, the original London venue used to host the inaugural NFL London game in 2007 will welcome the Jacksonville Jaguars who play host to the Denver Broncos. The Jaguars will be making their ninth London appearance and eighth at Wembley. The first two games of the 2022 NFL London Series will take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

In 2023, there are three London Series games with the Jacksonville Jaguars playing twice, the first at Wembley Stadium against the Atlanta Falcons. They then face the Buffalo Bills  in the first of two games at the Tottenham Stadium, the second game features the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans.

NFL Mexico Game

The Estadio Azteca hosted it's first NFL regular season game as part of the NFL International Series in 2016, eleven years after staging the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers game which was the first regular season game played outside of the United States which back then was labelled as the NFL 'Futbol Americano'. Famous for staging two FIFA World Cup Soccer finals in 1970 (Brazil v Italy) and 1986 (Argentina v West Germany), the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City is situated 2200 meters above sea level and has a capacity of 87,523. It is also the home of the national Mexican Soccer team.

The Oakland Raiders (currently Las Vegas Raiders) won the first NFL Mexico game in 2016 beating the Houston Texas 27-20 watched by 76,473 fans in the Estadio Azteca. The highest attendance for the NFL Mexico game to date is 77,357 who watched the New England Patriots defeat the Oakland Raiders 33-8 in 2017.

What NFL Teams are playing in Mexico ?

There is no NFL regular season game in Mexico in 2023 as the host stadium is undergoing a renovation.

* 2018 - Due to the condition of the playing surface the Kansas City Chiefs @ Los Angeles Rams game was moved from the Estadio Azteca to the Los Angeles Rams home stadium.

*2020 & 2021 there were no NFL Mexico Games due to the Covid 19 pandemic. 

NFL Germany Game

Germany joined the NFL International Series roster in 2022 with the Allianz Arena in Munich hosting their first NFL regular season game. The Allianz Arena is the home of German Bundesliga Soccer team Bayern Munich and has a spectator capacity of 70,000 for international games. The initial Germany Games deal agreed with the NFL means the Waldstadion (currently known as the Deutsche Bank Park for sponsorship reasons) in Frankfurt is due to host future NFL Germany Games commencing with two games in 2023.

Which NFL teams are playing in Germany ?

The Super Bowl LVII champions the Kansas City Chiefs will be heading to European soil for the first of two NFL Frankfurt games in 2023. The Chiefs face the Miami Dolphins on Sunday 5th November and the New England Patriots host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday 12th November. All four participating teams will be paying their first visit to Germany for a regular season game.

Miami Dolphins @ Kansas City Chiefs

Sunday 5th November (Week 9)

Venue: Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt (09:30 CEST)

Indianapolis Colts @ New England Patriots 

Sunday 12th November (Week 10)

Venue: Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt (09:30 CEST)

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