THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS will meet the Minnesota Vikings at Croke Park on Sunday, 28 September, in what will be the first ever competitive NFL game to take place in Ireland.

The NFL confirmed in February that the Steelers would host a 2025 fixture at the home of Gaelic Games, and the league today pencilled in one of last season’s Super Bowl contenders as Pittsburgh’s opponents for September’s landmark occasion.

The Vikings will remain in Europe and travel to London the following week to face the Cleveland Browns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Minnesota, whose head coach Kevin O’Connell is of Irish heritage, went 14-3 during the 2024 regular season, eventually running out of steam before being defeated by the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card playoff round.

Mike Tomlin’s Steelers, meanwhile, built a 10-7 record before also falling at the first playoff hurdle away to their archnemeses, the Baltimore Ravens.

Both sides will have new quarterbacks when they meet in Dublin on Week 4 of the 2025 campaign: the Steelers are expected to sign future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, now 41, while the Vikings will most likely hand the keys to their fit-again first-round draft pick from last year, JJ McCarthy, who missed the entirety of his rookie season with a knee injury.

McCarthy’s paternal grandfather emigrated to the States from Ireland at a young age, while the other side of his father’s family are also of a more distant Irish descent.

Rodgers’ impending signing with the Steelers, meanwhile, likely had an influence on September’s Dublin fixture.

Back in February, the Green Bay Packers, who are due to face the Steelers on the road this year, appeared to be Pittsburgh’s most likely opposition for Croke Park. However, with Packers legend Rodgers expected to play in Steelers colours against his former employers — as well as his former QB understudy at Green Bay, Jordan Love — that fixture will likely be broadcast in a primetime TV slot in the USA.

Its consequently increased value as a home game for the Steelers, combined with the time difference (the game would need to kick off after midnight in Ireland to feature as a standalone night-time fixture on American TV), dictated that it was ruled out of the running for Dublin.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the Minnesota Vikings to Ireland this September for the first-ever NFL Dublin game at Croke Park,” said General Manager of NFL UK & Ireland, Henry Hodgson.

“Alongside the Pittsburgh Steelers, we can’t wait to bring world-class football to Dublin and make history together with passionate NFL fans in Ireland and those visiting from across the globe.”

“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,” added Vikings owner/president Mark Wilf.

“To do so against a storied franchise like the Pittsburgh Steelers adds a unique challenge that makes this even more special. We are honoured to be selected for this historic game and will be anxious to see what promises to be an electric gameday environment in Croke Park.”

Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport Patrick O’Donovan said: “I welcome the news that the Minnesota Vikings have been chosen to play the Pittsburgh Steelers in our first-ever National Football League fixture in Dublin.

“This event provides for a huge boost to tourism and hospitality in Ireland and indeed creates a great atmosphere in Dublin for visitors and locals alike. We look forward to welcoming the teams and supporters to Croke Park and to Dublin and beyond, as they take the opportunity to explore the many attractions that Ireland has to offer.”

Pittsburgh who, along with the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars, hold the NFL’s exclusive international marketing rights in Ireland, will be the designated ‘home’ team when they face the Vikings at Croke Park.

The Steelers’ Irish roots run back to the club’s foundation in 1933 by Art Rooney, a descendant of Rooneys who originally emigrated from Newry, Co. Down, to Canada during The Famine. The franchise has remained under Rooney family control since its inception 92 years ago.

Art Rooney II, grandson of the club’s founder, currently oversees the Steelers’ front office. He inherited that responsibility from his father, the late Dan Rooney, who also served as US ambassador to Ireland during the first Obama administration.

It was under Dan Rooney’s club presidency that the Steelers first travelled to Ireland in July 1997, when they played an NFL pre-season game against the Chicago Bears at Croke Park. That warm-up meeting 28 years ago remains the only NFL game of any description to have taken place in Ireland.

September’s historic fixture will be the Steelers’ first international game since they travelled to London’s Wembley Stadium in September 2013, when they were incidentally beaten by the Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings, meanwhile, have set sail more recently and more regularly: they’re 4-0 outside of the United States, winning London fixtures in 2013 (versus the Steelers), 2017, 2022 and 2024.

The Steelers and Vikings have met on 19 occasions, most recently in 2021 when Minnesota recorded a thrilling 36-28 home victory.

The sides have met just twice in the last decade, with the Vikings boasting a 10-9 record over the Steelers since they first crossed paths in 1962.

The Steelers, however, have won a record-tying six Super Bowls, placing them atop the modern-day standings alongside the New England Patriots. The Vikings, founded in 1960, are still chasing their first title having been defeated in four Super Bowls between 1970 and 1977.

There will be seven NFL games played internationally during the 2025 season. Following the Dublin fixture and the Vikings’ subsequent trip to London to face the Browns, the New York Jets will take on the Denver Broncos on Sunday, 12 October, also at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The third and final London game of the season will feature the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, 19 October.

On 9 November, the Indianapolis Colts will host the Atlanta Falcons at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium Berlin.

The international slate will culminate in Madrid on Sunday, 16 November, with the Miami Dolphins taking on the Washington Commanders at Real Madrid’s Bernabéu Stadium in what will be the first ever regular-season game to take place in Spain.

First up, on 5 September, the Los Angeles Chargers will play at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil. The Chargers’ opponents will be confirmed tomorrow as the full NFL schedule is released.

Written by Gavan Casey and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.