Germany games
Two NFL hits in Frankfurt: Chiefs meet the Dolphins and a scandalous game is repeated
The fight for the egg: The Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins met for the last time in December 2020. In November there will be a duel between Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes and Miami’s Andrew Van Ginkel in Frankfurt.
© TNS/ABACA/ / Picture Alliance
German football fans will be spoiled this year. The NFL is playing two games on German soil for the first time and is presenting a top game and one with a history.
NFL fans in Germany should mark November 2023 in bold on their calendars. On two consecutive weekends, the best football league in the world is coming to Germany for two games and presenting a real hit on November 5th from 3.30 p.m. With the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins, two of the best teams in the league meet in Frankfurt. The Chiefs as hosts had already been announced by the NFL in January, and three weeks later the team led by quarterback and superstar Patrick Mahomes won the Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Chiefs are still title contenders this season despite the departures of star pass recipient JuJu Smith-Schuster (to the New England Patriots) and left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (to the Cincinnati Bengals). With the Miami Dolphins, however, a huge task awaits the Chiefs in Frankfurt, who are meeting an old acquaintance. Tyreek Hill played in Kansas City from 2016 to 2021, won the Super Bowl in 2019 with Patrick Mahomes and Co. In 2021, the wide receiver moved to Florida, where he became the highest-paid pass receiver in NFL history. In Miami, Hill signed a four-year contract that will bring him a maximum of $120 million with a minimum of $72 million guaranteed. In addition to Hill, the Dolphins squad is peppered with other star players, such as the injury-prone quarterback Tua Tagovailoa or the two pass defenders Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard.
NFL in Frankfurt: New England meets Indianapolis
A week later, on November 12, also from 3:30 p.m., there will be a duel between two teams that have a long history. When the New England Patriots meet the Indianapolis Colts, many NFL connoisseurs will think back to the playoff semifinals in January 2015. The Patriots, then still with superstar Tom Brady, who retired this spring, clearly won the duel 45:7, but afterwards a scandal became public. The Patriots had the air pressure in the balls reduced below the minimum permissible value. Lower air pressure makes it easier to throw and catch the ball. As a result, the Patriots were stripped of two draft picks in talent selection, and Tom Brady had to watch four games from the stands at the start of the 2016 season.
With the Patriots, a team is coming to Frankfurt that has a large fan base in Germany. Part of that is Tom Brady and the success of the Patriots, who have won the Super Bowl six times since 2002. Since the last triumph in 2018, however, the team from Massachusetts has been going downhill: the team of coaching legend Bill Belichick failed twice in the so-called wild card games, last season the Patriots missed the final round.
A feeling that Colts fans know as well. The 2006 Super Bowl winner has only made the playoffs twice in the past eight years. With the Patriots, a kind of feared opponent is waiting in Frankfurt. The Colts have won just one of their last ten games against the US East Coast team. Anthony Richardson is said to give new hope. The 20-year-old quarterback was drafted fourth in the draft by the Colts in April and is considered a so-called “dual threat weapon” who has immense throwing power and outstanding athleticism in running, but at the same time Richardson is said to be inconsistent .
“We’re excited to play both games at Eintracht Frankfurt’s stadium, building on the incredible atmosphere of the last game in Munich,” Peter O’Reilly, NFL Executive Vice President, Club Business, Major Events & International, said in a statement. “We are excited to play both games in Frankfurt, a city with a long NFL history and a large NFL fan base,” added Alexander Steinforth, general manager of NFL Germany.
How to get NFL tickets
Many fans will hope for a better distribution of tickets this year. At the first game in Germany last November, all 68,000 tickets were sold out within minutes, and many fans were frustrated afterwards. According to NFL Germany boss Alexander Steinforth, three million tickets could have been sold for the game in Munich. Fans who want to buy tickets this year must register in advance on a dedicated NFL page. Both Germany games will also be shown on RTL. The TV broadcaster has secured the broadcasting rights for the NFL from the coming season.
