The NFL will play its first-ever regular season game in Berlin, Germany, in 2025, the league announced on Wednesday.
While the teams have not been announced, it's believed that the Lions will play in that game.
According to the league, the NFL Berlin game will be played at the Olympic Stadium and will be the fifth NFL regular season game in Germany. Previously, the league has played games in Munich and Frankfurt.
“Germany has a rich tradition of American football, and the NFL has a deep history with the city of Berlin,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We first held a preseason game at the Olympic Stadium 34 years ago, before it was home to NFL Europe’s Berlin Thunder in the early 2000s. Now, with almost 20 million NFL fans in Germany, we’ll make a historic return to the city playing a regular season game for the first time as we open the next chapter in our relationship with Berlin.”
Earlier this year, the NFL awarded the Detroit Lions Global Markets Program rights for four countries as an effort to grow professional football around the world.
According to the NFL, the Lions got the Global Markets Program rights for Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Under those rights, the Lions have embarked on an expansion into those markets with many different campaigns and events.
Lions star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown's mother is also from Germany, and he has dual American-German citizenship.
Detroit last played internationally in 2015 when they played in London. The NFL requires teams to give up a home game every 10 years, in a season where it will host nine home games, to play internationally. Each team will also play overseas a minimum of every eight years.
