With the NFL in Madrid, a Spanish team looks to ride a wave of interest in American football

By Canadian Press on November 12, 2025.

MADRID (AP) — Forget about Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid. For some sports fans in the Spanish capital, the team to follow is the Madrid Bravos.

The recently created American football franchise has begun to attract more fans in a country where soccer rules.

After recently completing its second season in the European League of Football, the Bravos are hoping to ride the wave of extra attention the sport is getting as Spain hosts its first regular-season NFL game this weekend.

The Miami Dolphins and the Washington Commanders will meet Sunday at Real Madrid’s iconic Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in a game that was a hot ticket locally.

Commanders coach Dan Quinn put the Bravos in the spotlight not long after his team arrived, wearing a Bravos No. 12 jersey to his first news conference Wednesday.

“A quick shoutout to the Madrid Bravos,” he said before taking questions.

There are an estimated 11 million NFL followers in Spain, according to the league, and a growing number of these fans have been turning their attention to the local teams.

The Bravos averaged 3,000 fans at the Vallehermoso stadium this season, up from about 1,000 per game in its first year. With the focus on a family-oriented experience that includes tailgate parties, mascots, cheerleaders and halftime attractions, the club has become attractive to both hardcore fans and those new to the game.

“Today, if I have to chose between a Real Madrid game at the Santiago Bernabeu or a Bravos game at the Vallehermoso, I’ll choose to watch the Bravos,” said Simon Mabille, who helped found a Bravos fan club. “It’s a lot more interactive. There’s a connection between the players and the fans, and that adds another dimension to it. That’s something you don’t get in professional soccer.”

NFL boost

Having the NFL play a regular-season game in Spain has fomented interest in the sport — and the Bravos.

“The NFL helps give more visibility to the sport,” Bravos owner and general manager Jaime Martín told The Associated Press. “With Spain in the NFL map, more people are going to be talking about American football, and when people talk about American football in Spain, they will also talk about the Bravos and the local teams.”

The Bravos franchise — a semi-professional operation — was created in 2023, taking advantage of the increasing interest in the sport created by the NFL’s international expansion and the early success of the European League of Football. The team made the playoffs of the ELF in its first two seasons, losing in the first round both times to the eventual league champion.

“We are trying to build our fan base in these first few years,” Martín said. “The goal for next season is to start having 5,000 people in the matches. Hopefully we’ll eventually have to change to a bigger stadium, because that will mean that the project is going well.”

European league changes

The ELF launched in Germany in 2021 with eight teams to fill the void after NFL Europe folded in 2007 amid financial challenges.

A total of 16 teams played last season, but there is uncertainty over the format for 2026 after a break in the league as teams — including the Bravos — called for structural reform, economic fairness and transparency to promote a more sustainable development of the sport.

“We want to make a push to take the next step toward professionalizing both the league and the teams,” Martín said.

The Bravos played their first season along with the Barcelona Dragons, which was a popular Spanish franchise that helped co-found NFL Europe. The Dragons folded because of financial struggles and endured a final season to forget. It included a game abandoned after a 54-0 halftime deficit and another ending in a 90-0 loss.

It was in Barcelona that the NFL played its first exhibition game in Spain, with the Pittsburgh Steelers facing the San Francisco 49ers in front of a reported crowd of nearly 40,000 in 1993.

Spain also has its own American football league, which had 10 teams participating in a season played from January until May. The ELF played from May until September.

NFL prospects

The Bravos’ quarterback last season was Reid Sinnett, who had stints on the active rosters of the Dolphins, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cincinnati Bengals. He also played with the Houston Roughnecks in the UFL and the San Antonio Brahmas in the XFL.

The 28-year-old Sinnett was the ELF’s MVP with the Bravos last season, throwing for nearly 4,000 yards in 12 games. He had 50 touchdowns and four interceptions, and his completion rate was 72.9%.

“It was a really cool experience,” Sinnett told the AP on Tuesday before heading to Madrid, where he will participate in activities promoted by both the Bravos and the Dolphins.

“I think that the game is growing a ton, especially in Spain,” he said. “It’s getting better and better and there are more opportunities for young players to be exposed to the game.”

Sinnett said American football in Europe remains on a “totally different level” from the NFL, but it gave him the opportunity to travel and “experience new cultures and make new friends.”

The Bravos’ squad also included wide receiver Aron Cruickshank, who spent time on the practice squads for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears.

The Bravos were coached by Andrew Weidinger, a former assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team’s coach next season will be Dave Warner, whose past experience includes time at Michigan State and working with quarterbacks such as Kirk Cousins, Brian Hoyer and Nick Foles. His offensive line coach will be Terry Malone, who was a tight ends coach when the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl in 2010.

Local talent

Contrary to what the NFL Europe did in the late 1990s and 2000s, the ELF is focused on homegrown talent, with only 10 foreign players allowed on each squad, including only four Americans. The goal is to help develop local talent and have them learn from more experienced players.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to play at a professional level in your own country,” Bravos defensive lineman Victor dos Santos said. “It’s pretty cool to be able to play with some of these players who were in the NFL or played in college in the U.S. They help everyone grow with the experience and the know-how that they bring.”

Like most players on the squad, Dos Santos has a temporary contract during the season and needs to have a regular job, which in his case is working at technology company Lenovo.

With the sport growing, though, there is hope for a different future.

“As the league continues to grow, there will be more opportunities and hopefully people will be able to fully dedicate themselves to it,” he said.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Tales Azzoni, The Associated Press

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