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NFL game at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium between the New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons last Sunday
Photo: Steve Luciano / AP
The decision to play a National Football League (NFL) game in Germany is getting closer. A shortlist of the three possible venues was published on Tuesday. Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf made it into the decisive round of applicants. A regular season game is to take place on German soil for the first time from 2022, at the latest from 2023. The decision on the host will be made in December.
The venue would be the Allianz Arena of FC Bayern in Munich. The municipal Olympiapark-GmbH had to refuse a staging in the Olympic Stadium because of the upcoming renovation work on the almost 50-year-old arena and other scheduling obligations. This would pave the way for the FC Bayern stadium, which is actually only intended for football matches and, with 70,000 seats, would be the largest of the three possible arenas, if the city council passed a resolution.
According to ex-NFL professional Sebastian Vollmer, the first NFL season game in Germany will take place "95 percent in the coming year".
The two-time Super Bowl winner works closely with the NFL and is involved in all developments.
In Munich, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt "we see the greatest potential to play an NFL game and to be able to cope with all other requirements," he said at ran.
Previous international matches in London and Mexico
As part of its international expansion, the NFL intends to award several games a year to London, where the New York Jets met the Atlanta Falcons (20:27) in the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Sunday.
The Jacksonville Jaguars and the Miami Dolphins will face each other next Sunday.
One of the future games outside the USA is to take place in Mexico City, another in Germany.
Each team should play at least one game outside of the United States within eight years.
Since 2007 it has been played 28 times in London and three times in Mexico.
In Germany, the NFL would like to set up its own office, among other things. Furthermore, reported Vollmer, "a lot of teams have already applied to be the first to play in Germany."
Among them are the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.
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