Seahawks To Face Bucs In First NFL Regular-Season Game In Germany

SEATTLE, WA —The NFL announced Wednesday that the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will meet in November in the league's first regular-season game played in Germany.

The contest will take place at 7:30 a.m. PT at Munich's Allianz Arena, the 75,000-seat home of soccer club FC Bayern Munich. The game will air on NFL Network.

This will be the Seahawks' second trip to Europe in five seasons. On Oct. 14, 2018, Seattle defeated the then-Oakland Raiders 24-3 at London's Wembley Stadium

According to Seahawks.com, Seattle has a sizable following in Europe, including a German Sea Hawkers chapter that has 1,316 dues-paying members.

In fact, The German Sea Hawkers currently have more than 32,000 followers between Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and in 2021 germanseahawkers.com had 38,674 users and 186,814 page views, Seahawks.com reported.

Last season, more than 50 members of the German Sea Hawkers came to Seattle for the Seahawks' Week 11 game against Arizona.

John Boyle, a reporter for Seahawks.com, said Seattle's popularity in Germany likely is due to the team's recent success coinciding with the games being shown in that country.

According to Boyle, the German TV Network ProSieben MAXX began airing NFL games in 2015. The Seahawks appeared in back-to-back Super Bowls in 2014 and 2015, defeating the Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XL (2014) and losing to the New England Patriots 28-24 in Super Bowl XLIX (2015).

With Seattle coming off of consecutive Super Bowl appearances, the Seahawks, as well as the Patriots, found themselves on the German airways pretty frequently, leading to a big growth in Seahawks fandom, former German Sea Hawkers president Maximilian Lange explained in 2018, according to Seahawks.com.

The Seahawks also feature a German player, linebacker Aaron Donkor, an Aachen native who joined the team in 2021 as part of the NFL's International Player Pathway Program.

"I'm very excited for everyone," Donkor told Seahawks.com when asked about the game in his home country. "It's exciting for the team, for Seahawks fans, for NFL fans in Germany."

Donkor continued: "(The German fans) have been very supportive of me. I've felt the support from Seahawks fans here and in Germany, so I'm fortunate for that."

The game in Munich will feature a Tampa Bay team led by quarterback Tom Brady, who initially announced his retirement this offseason, but then made a U-turn and said he would return for a campaign in which he will be 45 years old.

The Seahawks will be playing their first season without quarterback Russell Wilson, who was traded to the Denver Broncos in March.

According to Seahawks.com, tickets for the game in Munich will be available in June, with exact dates for sales windows being announced later in May. Fans can sign up on the Seahawks' website to receive more information about the Munich game.

The NFL on Wednesday also announced four other international games for the 2022 season:

• Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints, Oct 2, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London
• New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers, Oct 9, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London
• Denver Broncos vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, Oct. 30, at Wembley Stadium in London
• San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals, Nov. 21 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City