ANN ARBOR – Michigan tight end Marlin Klein fell in love with football while growing up in Germany.

Next year, football fans in his home country might not have to travel very far to watch his Wolverines kick off the 2026 season. Michigan is “engaged in ongoing discussions” to open next season against Western Michigan in Frankfurt at Deutsche Bank Park, home of the Eintracht Frankfurt of the German soccer league Bundesliga.

If the game is moved to Germany, it would mark the first time the Wolverines play outside of North America. Michigan and Western Michigan were already scheduled to play on Sept. 5, 2026, in Ann Arbor.

Klein, one of two Germans on Michigan’s roster along with defensive lineman and Frankfurt native Manuel Beigel, is entering his fourth season at Michigan. He has another year of eligibility after 2025 since he redshirted as a freshman, but there’s a chance he declares for the NFL draft after this year. Regardless of whether he returns to the Wolverines next year or not, it’s a game he will be looking forward to.

“It’s awesome,” Klein said last week of Michigan potentially playing in Germany. “There’s people calling me, texting me who I haven’t heard from since I moved here. A lot of people were too excited, because they thought it was happening in four weeks here. They were like, ‘We’re going to see you next month.’ Yeah, no. But yeah, it’s such a great opportunity for this university, the game of football, for Germany. You’re really just spreading the game of football across the globe now, and for Michigan to be one of the universities, it’s such a great opportunity.”

For other Michigan players like junior defensive back TJ Metcalf, it would be their first time making a trip outside of the United States.

“I ain’t really thought about it too much,” Metcalf said. “I know if I do play in that game, it’ll be exciting. But it’s gonna be long travel though. I mean, I don’t know, I’m excited for it. It will be something different.”

Deutsche Bank Park, a 55,000-seat station also known as “Waldstadion,” has previously hosted five NFL games, but two FBS teams have never squared off in Germany.

“That’s gonna be crazy, for sure,” sophomore edge rusher Cameron Brandt said. “I think that’ll be really fun, especially, like, just going out there with the guys. I think that’ll be fun, be a good experience.”

Not everyone inside the program appears thrilled to potentially be giving up a home game to play overseas. The Wolverines are still slated to play seven games at the 107,601-seat Michigan Stadium in 2026, even if the game against the Broncos is moved to Germany. However, playing an in-state team over 4,000 miles away from Ann Arbor would limit opportunities for local fans to watch their team in person.

If Michigan-WMU is played in Frankfurt, the date will be moved to Aug. 29, 2026, which is Week 0. That would give the Wolverines an extra bye week before hosting Oklahoma on Sept. 12.

“It doesn’t matter what I think about that,” said Michigan 62-year-old defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, a veteran NFL coach before joining Sherrone Moore’s staff ahead of the 2024 season. “I used to back 20 years ago think that I’d have the answer to that, but I’m not in any of those meetings and I don’t know what’s happening, so it doesn’t matter what I think.”

Other coaches were more diplomatic when asked about playing overseas. Michigan, coming off an 8-5 record last year, has less than three weeks until it opens the 2025 season against New Mexico.

“I’ve never been to Europe, never been to that part of the world,” first-year offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey said. “It’s kind of cool. It’s a long ways away right now, but I did read that somewhere. For now, I’m really focused on what we’re doing each and every day, and just really blessed to be here and excited about what we’re doing. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

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