The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Florida State Seminoles will begin their 2024 season in Ireland, both programs announced on Wednesday morning.
It will be the ninth-ever game to be played in Ireland and the fifth at Aviva Stadium. Last season, the stadium hosted the Aer Lingus College Football Classic, a game that saw Northwestern defeat Nebraska 31-28 on August 27.
The first-ever game in Ireland was played in 1988 between Boston College and Army, a 38-24 win over the Eagles. Games were also played in 1989 between No.24 Pittsburgh and Rutgers as well as in 1997 between No. 19 Notre Dame and Navy before not coming back until 2012 when Notre Dame and Navy had a rematch at the first game at Aviva Stadium, a 50-10 win for the Fighting Irish.
Penn State and UCF would play as part of the Croke Park Classic in 2014, a 26-24 win for the Nittany Lions while in 2016 Georgia Tech defeated Boston College 17-14 in the first Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
This upcoming fall, Aviva Stadium will host Notre Dame and Navy for their third matchup in Ireland on August 26 as part of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. While there have only been eight games over thirty years in Ireland, it often has been highly successful, drawing 38,000+ fans in seven of eight games including in each of the five games. While a large portion of those in attendance has been fans of the teams participating, many are also Irish nationals.
[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=15]
[mm-video type=video id=01gvgcm3gww1j9bk2qhd playlist_id=01gq2fszf7mxxc88k4 player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gvgcm3gww1j9bk2qhd/01gvgcm3gww1j9bk2qhd-4dfbb6863c9fa8d20f9aa0f1ff665f49.jpg]