The NFL touches down in London for Jaguars Se7ens Cup and North vs South clash

Anglo-American relations are thriving as the NFL returns to London this weekend
Jacksonville Jaguars' Calais Campbell

The Americans are coming. Football fever — the kind where the ball is a different shape — is about to sweep London once again this month, with National Football League teams at Wembley and Twickenham and mini-tournaments around the capital.

For anyone who’s binge-watched Last Chance U on Netflix or has already booked off the morning after the Super Bowl, this one’s for you. If you’re just in it for the cheering and the hotdogs, there’s plenty where that came from too.

Slap on your shoulder pads and dust off your pom-poms as the Jaguars Se7ens Cup invades The Hive Stadium in Canons Park tomorrow. Reluctant revolutionaries, prepare to experience an American festival atmosphere, with hog roasts, cookouts, American football games, children’s inflatables and skills coaching sessions. Highlights include an all-female team, the Sirens, competing.

More than 400 players take part in the seven-on-seven mixed-flag football, for a prize that will see the winning team jetted off on a paid trip to Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis next February. The victors will play Manchester’s champions in a North vs South final at rugby union side Saracens’ Allianz Park on September 22.

The main events — all four of them — are the International Series games being played in London. “The NFL has been here for more than 10 years,” says Hussain Naqi, senior vice-president for international development at the Jacksonville Jaguars. “We have built a fanbase. Jags are London’s and the UK’s home team.”

“The efforts we’re putting into the game, appealing to people who play touch football at the weekend, has driven a connection between London and its home team. When the players come over they say they can feel the spirit as well — the Wembley fans were decidedly in favour of the Jags. And we’ve now won two in a row in our second home.”

At Wembley, the Baltimore Ravens play the Jacksonville Jaguars on September 24, followed by the Miami Dolphins and the New Orleans Saints on October 1. At Twickenham, the Arizona Cardinals will play the Los Angeles Rams on October 22, followed by the Minnesota Vikings versus the Cleveland Browns a week later. Hail Mary, as they say in the game, and go along.

For more about the Jaguars’ grassroots initiatives in the UK, including Jaguars Academy and the Se7ens Cup, go to jaguars.co.uk

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