An agreement is being finalized for Michigan and Western Michigan to open the 2026 college football season in Frankfurt, Germany. The Week 0 matchup would be the first FBS college football game played on German soil.
Both schools issued statements Friday confirming the planned game at Deutsche Bank Park, a 55,000-seat venue that is home to Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga, Germany’s top professional soccer league. The NFL brought two regular-season games to Deutsche Bank Park in 2023, one featuring the Chiefs and Dolphins, and the other featuring the Colts and Patriots.
“We are always looking for unique opportunities to expose our student-athletes to other cultures,” Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said. “In the last 10 years, our program has been to Italy, France and South Africa, and this game would provide another chance to grow our international fanbase.”
International games have become a staple of college football’s Week 0 schedule. Kansas State and Iowa State will kick off the 2025 season at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, site of previous openers between Florida State and Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Navy and Nebraska and Northwestern. TCU and North Carolina are set to play a Week 0 game in Dublin next season.
Michigan has been approached about playing international games in the past, and former coach Jim Harbaugh hinted in 2019 that Michigan was close to announcing a game outside of the U.S. The biggest hurdle was Michigan’s reluctance to move a game away from Michigan Stadium, the largest venue in college football and a major source of revenue for the athletic department.
Michigan boasts a streak of 323 home games played in front of 100,000 fans or more, excluding the 2020 season when attendance was limited during the COVID-19 pandemic. An average home game generates about $8 million for the school and brings tens of thousands of visitors to Ann Arbor. Michigan has a goal of playing seven home games each season to balance its budget. The program projected a $15 million budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year due to costs related to revenue sharing and the House settlement.
Michigan will play six home games this season after playing eight last year. The Western Michigan game, previously scheduled for Sept. 5, 2026, at Michigan Stadium, would be moved to Aug. 29, leaving Michigan with home games against Oklahoma, UTEP, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State and UCLA.
The proposed matchup would be the first played outside of North America for both programs.
“The opportunity to be a part of the first college football game played in Germany presents an experience for our program that is unmatched at any level of college football and puts the university on an international stage,” Western Michigan athletic director Dan Bartholomae said. “We can’t wait for the world to see all of the great academic, community, and athletic accomplishments happening at Western Michigan University.”
(Photo: Rey Del Rio / Getty Images)
