In what year was the first game of American football played at Wembley in London?

The first game of American football played at Wembley wasn't in the 1980s as most people think, but was actually all the way back in 1952. The occasion was the United States Air Forces in Europe Football title game when the Fuerstenfeldbruck Eagles defeated the Burtonwood Bullets 27-6.

British interest in American football was sparked thirty years later in 1982 when Channel 4 started showing weekly NFL highlights, and it has continued to grow ever since.

In the summer of 1983 an English entrepreneur named John Marshall hired Wembley Stadium and brought the Minnesota Vikings and St. Louis Cardinals over to play a pre-season exhibition game called The Global Cup. Just over 30,000 fans turned out that day to witness a little piece of sporting history.

The NFL, looking to promote American football in other countries, took notice and in 1986 launched a series of pre-season exhibition games at Wembley called the ‘American Bowl’. The inaugural match saw defending Super Bowl champions Chicago Bears defeat the Dallas Cowboys 17-6 in front of a capacity crowd.

Since 2007 every International Series game has taken place at Wembley Stadium. The first NFL regular season game outside of North America was between New York Giants and Miami Dolphins, with the Giants emerging 13-10 victors.