THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS will play the first ever competitive NFL game to take place in Ireland when they return to Croke Park later this year.

The NFL confirmed the landmark move at a press conference on Friday afternoon, which will see one of America’s most famous sporting institutions host a 2025 regular-season fixture at the home of Gaelic Games.

The event will see the NFL work in conjunction with the Irish government and the GAA.

The exact date and the Steelers’ opponents for the fixture are yet to be confirmed, but a September meeting with the Green Bay Packers has been mooted for several weeks.

The Steelers have significant Irish connections. The Rooney family, who originally emigrated to Pittsburgh from Newry, Co. Down, during the 1800s, founded the Steelers in 1933 and remain the franchise’s majority owners.

The Steelers are currently run by Art Rooney II, who inherited the responsibility from his father, the late Dan Rooney, a former US ambassador to Ireland. Under Dan Rooney’s presidency, the Pennsylvania-based Steelers played an NFL pre-season game at Croke Park in July 1997, when they faced the Chicago Bears.

The Steelers 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 in Dublin.

Ar Aghaidh Linn 🇮🇪☘️

The NFL is coming to Dublin, Ireland and the @steelers are the designated team! pic.twitter.com/kpAemsOUvc

— NFL UK & Ireland (@NFLUKIRE) February 7, 2025

The historic fixture will be the Steelers’ first international game since they met the Minnesota Vikings at London’s Wembley Stadium in September 2013.

As well as the Steelers’ pre-season game with the Bears 28 years ago, Croke Park has also previously hosted college football games, the last being a meeting of Penn State and the University of Central Florida in August 2014.

The Aviva Stadium has played host to the four more recent installments of the ‘College Football Classic’, three of which have taken place in consecutive years since 2022.

The Steelers have won a record-tying six Super Bowls, placing them joint top of the modern-day NFL standings alongside the New England Patriots.

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.