Diehard Fans Give Seattle Seahawks a Home-Field Advantage—in Germany

“It’s very totally different from the classical European sports activities occasion,” he mentioned, pointing to extravagant pregame tailgating and opposing followers commingling within the stands. “Perhaps there’s a little bit of smack speak,” he mentioned, “however very not often are there ever bodily altercations.”

Soccer reigns supreme throughout Europe, however increasingly more Germans are enduring a five-or-more hour time distinction to observe American soccer and the Seahawks are their group. They also have a German Sea Hawkers fan membership.

This Sunday, Mr. Spiess and his fellow German fanatics will benefit from the Nationwide Soccer League’s first-ever regular-season recreation in Germany when the Seahawks tackle the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers are technically the house group, but when the German Sea Hawkers membership has its manner, its group will take the turf at Munich’s 75,000-seat Allianz Enviornment with one thing of a home-field benefit.

The NFL has hosted regular-season video games since 2007 within the U.Ok., the place the Seahawks are also common. After a 2018 matchup there towards the then-Oakland Raiders, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll mentioned it “felt like a house recreation.”

How did the Seahawks wind up with so many European followers? The NFL’s European advertising and marketing push spanned a decade when the Seahawks have been stringing collectively deep playoff runs with a colourful and charismatic group of stars that then included operating again

Marshawn Lynch

and cornerback

Richard Sherman.

On the similar time, German TV station ProSieben Maxx was providing free telecasts of extra video games.

In January 2014,

Daniel Humburg,

then a pupil, was flipping via channels when he got here throughout the Seahawks’ first postseason recreation in what turned their march to the Tremendous Bowl.

“I’m in my room, watching a sport I don’t perceive, and I’m fully into it,” he recalled. He stayed up watching till about 5 a.m., two hours earlier than courses started.

He was transfixed by a operating again nicknamed Beast Mode. “It was Marshawn Lynch bursting via D-lines like they have been little youngsters,” mentioned Mr. Humburg, now finding out to change into a high-school instructor.

Max Länge,

a Leipzig resident, suspects he was the primary particular person in Germany to personal Mr. Lynch’s jersey. He mentioned he was received over to the Seahawks by the “swagger” of Mr. Sherman and the remainder of their trash-talking defensive secondary, generally known as the “Legion of Growth,” throughout that run to a 2014 Tremendous Bowl victory.

Mr. Länge gathered about 15 fellow followers later that 12 months and utilized to create a German chapter of the Sea Hawkers, a semiofficial booster membership that already had a foothold within the U.Ok.

The group turned a vanguard of Germany’s American soccer zeitgeist, as new followers gravitated towards the very best groups, corresponding to Seattle and the New England Patriots. “Nobody would change into a Browns fan,” Mr. Länge mentioned, referencing the chronically unsuccessful Cleveland franchise.

The German Sea Hawkers have grown to extra 1,800 than members. A digital media arm reaches extra with German-language evaluation and merchandise. Group-specific podcasts and different social-media pages have sprouted lately as streaming choices for video games have expanded.

Nonetheless, the Seahawks are removed from a family identify, mentioned

Simon Kell,

an information-technology skilled who lives outdoors of Düsseldorf. “Most Germans don’t know the place Seattle is in the US,” he mentioned.

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Mr. Kell visited New Orleans final month to observe the Seahawks play. He likes the X’s and O’s of soccer technique, in addition to the tradition round it: anthem singing, flag waving and occasional flyovers by jet fighters. “Every little thing is greater,” he mentioned.

When tickets went on sale for the Munich recreation, Mr. Kell discovered himself behind about 600,000 different followers with a web based vendor. “I used to be fortunate that I had mates who received tickets,” he mentioned, including that he would have coughed up 500 euros, or practically $500 a seat. Tickets have since offered in resale markets for hundreds apiece.

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As out-of-town followers descend on Munich, air-traffic controller

Tom Lang,

who lives outdoors the town, plans to function an area information. “I’m getting concerned in all types of loopy stuff occurring,” he mentioned.

Mr. Lang has been a Seahawks fan since 1986, when he lived close to Seattle as a part of a high-school trade program. A season ticket-holder for six years, he visits Seattle recurrently to attend video games with a buddy, promoting or making a gift of unused tickets.

The German Sea Hawkers have offered greater than 800 tickets for a celebration at a Munich beer corridor the night earlier than kickoff. An Instagram publish promoting the occasion describes it as a “Heimspeil Celebration,” or home-game occasion, with conventional wheat beer and Bavarian delicacies.

Mr. Länge, the Leipzig resident who based the German Sea Hawkers, mentioned the gathering will probably be a fruits of years spent making an attempt to carry followers in his nation collectively.

“I will probably be there, watching folks and smiling, and shedding some tears,” he mentioned. “It’s simply what I dreamed of.”

Write to David Uberti at david.uberti@wsj.com