Bernhard Raimann is facing a “really emotional game.” The Austrian offensive tackle for the Indianapolis Colts will play his “home game” in Europe against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. “It’s hard to describe. You never have so much family at a game. Or in one place at the same time in general,” said the 28-year-old, who has been under contract with the Colts since 2022.

While other German NFL players like Lenny Krieg tend to miss classic German food in the US, Raimann longs for home cooking: “Good goulash or good cheese spaetzle are hard to replace. I personally try to cook at home sometimes. It doesn’t always work out so well. But I’ll keep trying to serve Austrian food to my wife and child,” said the Viennese player after his first training session on German soil on Friday.

In addition to Raimann, a second Colts player is also experiencing a special home game: German Maximilian Mang. Although the 25-year-old from Potsdam is only on the Colts’ practice squad and will not be on the field on Sunday, the NFL game at the Olympic Stadium means a lot to him: “It’s great to come home. Especially to this stadium. It’s something special for me because I’ve been going to Hertha games since I was six years old,“ said Mang. He added: ”I still can’t quite believe it, even though we’ve already been in the locker room. It’s just a unique moment. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”