Minnesota Vikings head coach excited to explore Irish roots

May 14, 2025

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell can’t wait to get back to his roots after the historic Croke Park announcement.

The NFL revealed Dublin will play host to the Vikings versus the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 28 for the first-ever regular season contest on Irish soil.

It is just one of seven matches being played on international soil, with a further three in London, Berlin, Madrid and one in Brazil.

O’Connell, who has Irish heritage, is relishing the opportunity to visit Ireland for the first time and hopes he can help convert local fans to follow the Vikings.

He said on the announcement: “My family is very excited about getting an opportunity to visit Ireland.

“We actually have never been before. It’s been something that I’ve very much been looking forward to getting an opportunity to do.

“I didn’t know it would inevitably come with bringing my football team over as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, but definitely something that I’ll be diving into and continuing to learn more and more about in the days and weeks leading up to our trip for sure.”

O’Connell also admitted it would be “short-sighted” of him not to do his research on the history and Irish values before making the trip. “It would be short-sighted of me as a head coach to not really engage in learning about the great history,” he added.

“I’ve already learned in a very short amount of time about many aspects of what makes Croke Park so special and an amazing venue for us to get the opportunity to play at and I know our players will feel the same.

“We’re going to try to make the most of it and look forward to building a lot of relationships and hopefully acquire some new Minnesota Vikings fans along the way.”

Vikings owner and president Mark Wilf spoke of his excitement about heading to Ireland. He said: “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.

“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.”