Vikings will play in Dublin and London on back-to-back weekends during 2025 NFL season

Since they first ventured across the Atlantic Ocean to play in London 12 years ago, the Vikings have made little secret of their openness to playing internationally. They’ll do so for the fifth — and sixth — time this fall, as part of an unprecedented NFL schedule arrangement.

The Vikings will play in Dublin and London on back-to-back weekends this fall, after the NFL announced on Tuesday morning Minnesota will be the road team for the Steelers’ game in Ireland on Sept. 28 (8:30 a.m. Central time) and the Browns’ game in England on Oct. 5 (8:30 a.m.).

The Vikings and Pittsburgh will meet at Dublin’s Croke Park rugby stadium in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Ireland. Then, the Vikings will return to London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the third time in four years to play Cleveland.

The Jaguars have played in London in back-to-back weeks each of the past two years, giving up a home game while playing once as the road team. The Vikings, however, will be the first team to play back-to-back international games in two different countries.

“Playing in Ireland’s first-ever NFL game is an opportunity to introduce new fans to the Minnesota Vikings and help the league continue to make the game of football more accessible globally,” said Vikings owner and President Mark Wilf in a statement released by the team. “To do so against a storied franchise like the Pittsburgh Steelers adds a unique challenge that makes this even more special. We are honored to be selected for this historic game and will be anxious to see what promises to be an electric game day environment in Croke Park.”

Chatter about the arrangement had picked up in recent weeks, after sources said at the NFL owners meetings that the Steelers preferred to keep their game against the Packers — who have international marketing rights in London and were a popular candidate for the Ireland game — in Pittsburgh. The Vikings, who have marketing rights in the United Kingdom and have played in London more than any other team besides the Jaguars and Dolphins, became a front-runner for the games, given the fact they were scheduled to face both the Steelers and the Browns on the road this year.

“Our experiences in London have always been memorable, so to return in 2025 as the first team to play in back-to-back international games in different countries was something we could not pass up,” Wilf said.

The Vikings are 4-0 in regular-season games in London, winning twice in the past three years under Kevin O’Connell, but the extended stay will present some logistical challenges. If the Vikings need to sign a player between games, for example, they’ll have to get the player to the U.K. and acclimated to the team quickly. In 2022, Vikings safety Lewis Cine stayed in London after sustaining a compound leg fracture during a win over the Saints; if the Vikings have a player sustain a major injury during one of the two international games, they’ll have to put plans in place for the player’s medical care while they switch countries.

It’s expected the team will stay overseas between games rather than returning to Minnesota, so the Vikings could spend most of the week practicing in London after the game against the Steelers in Dublin. Before their wins over the Saints in 2022 and the Jets in 2024, the Vikings arrived in London late in the week, opting to spend as much time in Minnesota as possible before a brief stretch of time to get acclimated to the six-hour time difference. This time, the extended stay could give them a slight advantage over the Browns in the second game, if the Vikings’ practice overseas means they’re better prepared for the time change than Cleveland is.

The Vikings returned to Minnesota after the 2022 game to play host to the Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium the following Sunday. Last year, they stayed in London the night of their win over the Jets and took their bye week after the trip. This year, it’d seem likely the Vikings will have a Week 6 bye, after back-to-back games outside the U.S. (The rest of the Vikings’ 2025 schedule will be announced Wednesday.)

This will be the second time the Vikings have faced the Steelers and Browns internationally. They beat Pittsburgh in their first game in London, scoring their first victory of the 2013 season with a win at Wembley Stadium. Then, they pulled away from the Browns for a 33-16 win at Twickenham Stadium in 2017, winning their fourth straight as part of an eight-game run in the middle of a 13-3 season.

The fact the Vikings will again play the Browns in London means they’ll continue to avoid Cleveland, where they haven’t played a regular-season game since 2009. If the Vikings and Browns finish in the same place in their respective divisions in 2026, the Vikings would go to Cleveland in 2027.

The Vikings’ agreement with the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority allows them to move three home games from U.S. Bank Stadium to an international site between 2016 and 2030, and permits them to move three more between 2031 and 2045.

Their 2013 game against the Steelers counted against the initial set of three, meaning the Vikings can move one more home game out of the country before 2031. They’re more likely to host international games in even-numbered years when they’re slated to have nine home games, meaning 2026, 2028 or 2030 could be years when they move their final home game in that initial set of three.

This year, though, the Vikings will keep all eight of their home games at U.S. Bank Stadium, while playing seven on the road (against the Bears, Lions, Packers, Giants, Cowboys, Seahawks and Chargers) and facing two teams (the Steelers and Browns) in something closer to a neutral-site environment.

The Vikings are 4-0 in regular-season games and 4-0 in preseason games played outside of the U.S.

Regular season

Preseason

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