UK Vikings Are Excited To Welcome Heroes Back To London 

A History of Vikings Football in the UK 
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports.

The international games for the NFL 2022 season have been announced. Among them are the Minnesota Vikings, who head to London for the third time as the opponents for the designated home team, the New Orleans Saints.

The passion for the game “across the pond” continues to grow, and the UK Vikings are excited to welcome their heroes back to London for the first time since 2017.

London has been somewhat of a lucky charm for the Vikings. They have won on both of their previous visits for the international series. First in 2013, they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-27 at Wembley Stadium, also in a Week 4 game. The Vikings had gone 0-3 in the lead up to that game. Hopefully, it won’t be such a rough start to Kevin O’Connell’s tenure as head coach in Minnesota.

In 2017, the Vikings defeated the Cleveland Browns 33-16 at Twickenham Stadium en route to a successful season culminating in the NFC championship game — losing to the Philadelphia Eagles, who would win Super Bowl LII, played in Minneapolis at the US Bank Stadium.

The Saints have also enjoyed their time in London, beating the then-San Diego Chargers 37-32 back in 2008 and then winning again 20-0 against the Miami Dolphins in 2018. Someone’s undefeated streak will have to end — unless it ends in a tie, of course.

In 2022, it is time for the Vikings to come to London once again, and they will be playing in a third different stadium. This time they play the Saints at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the first stadium built in the UK with American Football in mind. Its primary purpose is to be the home to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Still, it was designed with a retractable football (soccer) pitch, which reveals a synthetic turf field underneath for NFL London Games, concerts, and other events.

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports.

As one myself, I can confirm that the UK Vikings fans are excited to welcome their heroes back to London. The increase in international games means these opportunities will likely come around more often, especially with the Minnesota Vikings being one of the international home marketing teams for the UK. Still, something that only happens every five years or so causes major excitement, and just about every Vikings fan I know over here can’t wait for tickets to be released. 

The Minnesota Vikings UK (@UKVikings) asked some UK fans to do a short video saying what they were looking forward to for the upcoming game. Despite hating being in front of a camera, I was one of three fans that duly obliged.

I’m not a regular visitor to the London games. I wouldn’t make the trip to London, which is a fair distance from where I live — by UK standards anyway — to watch teams I wasn’t a fan of in any other sport. So, I don’t for football.

Any chance for us over here to see the Minnesota Vikings play live is great and can’t be passed up. For it to be a big game against a team we have history against, like the Saints, makes it even better.

This fan can’t wait for October 2 to come around and look forward to seeing lots of purple in the stands.

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