University of Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Moos announced Monday that the Huskers will open the 2021 football season in Dublin, Ireland.
The game will be played at Aviva Stadium on Saturday, August 28th against Illinois.
The Aer Lingus College Football Classic will be the second game in a new five-game series of college games in Dublin. The first of those games will be a season-opening matchup between Navy and Notre Dame in 2020.
“Playing a game in Ireland provides another way to spread the Nebraska brand, and in this case on an international stage,” Moos says. “We are always looking for new scheduling opportunities and when this was presented, Coach Frost and I decided this would be an experience of a lifetime for the student-athletes in our program. This will also be a great trip for our fans, and knowing how Husker fans travel it will be great to see Dublin, Ireland turned Red.”
Nebraska was originally scheduled to play at Illinois on Nov. 13, 2021. The matchup in Dublin will be Nebraska’s first game outside of the United States since the Huskers took on Kansas State in the 1992 Coca-Cola Bowl in Tokyo, Japan.
“We look forward to taking our team to Ireland to kick off the 2021 season against Illinois,” Nebraska Head Coach Scott Frost says. “This will provide great exposure for the Nebraska football program and the Big Ten Conference. Our first priority for the trip will be to play a football game, but it is also going to give our players a chance to visit a part of the world most of them will not have seen.”