Now the NFL season is over, the American football fans among you may be wondering what to do, what sport to watch and who to root for during the long break until Week 1 in September.

How about turning to soccer?

Stick with us here.

With passionate fans, global superstars and 10 American owners in the 20-club Premier League, the two kinds of football have closer ties than ever before.

Consider this a guide, a suggestion, or a comparison of the incomparable if you like, on the teams to follow should European soccer grab your attention over the coming months. Of course, you can support whomever you want, based on reasons more heartfelt or random than ours, but what better soccer team to follow than one with a story similar to your NFL one?

Arizona Cardinals → Crystal Palace

Historic franchises, empty trophy cabinets. The Arizona Cardinals and Crystal Palace were founding members of their respective leagues. The Cardinals are the oldest franchise in the NFL. Formed in 1898 in Chicago as the Morgan Athletic Club, they joined the NFL in 1920 as the Chicago Cardinals and, after migrating to St. Louis in 1960, found their current home in 1994. Palace, meanwhile, claims to be the oldest league club still playing professional football.

But with age does not come trophy-winning wisdom as both clubs have yet to win a big prize. At 77 years and counting, the Cardinals hold the record for the longest championship drought in America’s four major professional sports leagues and Palace — like the Cardinals have an avian-themed nickname: the Eagles — has not won a major honor in its 164-year existence.

Both teams are always there, though, and occasionally have exciting players. So, go ahead, transfer your trophy-drought pain from American football to soccer.

Atlanta Falcons → Leeds United

Atlanta just had its seventh straight losing season, finishing 8-9. Last March they acquired a big-name quarterback in Kirk Cousins on a four-year deal worth a potential $180 million. While that was an expensive risk, given in December he was benched in favor of rookie Michael Penix Jr. and Cousins’ future is now uncertain, he did show flashes of exciting offensive play with game-winning drives against the now-NFL-champion Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

So, Falcons fans, if you want an exciting offense but one that struggles against the very top teams, may we introduce Leeds United. Though currently doing well in the Championship, English football’s second tier, and headed for promotion, Leeds isn’t usually competitive when they get into the Premier League.

In the 2021-22 season, Leeds narrowly avoided the drop from the top flight but a year later were relegated and has been in the Championship ever since. Like the Falcons, however, Leeds still spend big, second-most in its 24-team division this season.

Baltimore Ravens → Arsenal

Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson steps back to pass against the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs last month. (Al Bello / Getty Images)

Baltimore Ravens fans can probably relate to Arsenal. They have a fast, young and exciting team that can dominate games during the regular season but, in recent years, have been beaten out when it comes to crunch time.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson won his second NFL most valuable player award in 2023, while Arsenal’s William Saliba, Gabriel, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard are consistently among the best players in the Premier League.

These teams have won big titles before and carry big expectations. They are young and are getting close, but just need to get their hands on silverware once again.

Buffalo Bills → Tottenham Hotspur

A fan takes a selfie in front of a mural of Harry Kane near Tottenham’s stadium. (Adrian Dennis / AFP via Getty Images)

The Buffalo Bills are comparable to Tottenham Hotspur during the north London club’s Harry Kane era (2011-23). Fans league-wide recognized that England captain Kane, his national team’s all-time leading goalscorer, was among the best players in the Premier League, but when it came to winning a trophy at club level, something always went wrong.

The same can be said of quarterback Josh Allen, the NFL’s 2024 season MVP, who has been with the Bills since 2018. He and the Bills have made the playoffs but fallen short of the Super Bowl in the past six seasons — with four of their last five postseason defeats coming against the Kansas City Chiefs.

They are also tied with the Minnesota Vikings for the most Super Bowl appearances without a win (four), while Tottenham last won a trophy in 2008 — the League Cup.

Carolina Panthers → Ipswich Town

Agriculture/agribusiness is an important industry in North Carolina and Ipswich Town, from the largely rural county of Suffolk, is known as the ‘Tractor Boys’. This is a match made in farming.

Ipswich has a loyal, local fan base but is currently in the Premier League’s relegation places. The Panthers went 5-12 in 2024 — their seventh consecutive losing season.

Both they and Ipswich have had recent highs, however, with the latter’s manager Kieran McKenna reinvigorating a club that was once champions of England in the 1960s by becoming only the fifth team to achieve back-to-back promotions from the third tier (League One) to the Premier League. The Panthers got to the Super Bowl in 2015, led by the exciting play of that season’s MVP, quarterback Cam Newton.

Chicago Bears → Nottingham Forest

You have to go back a few years in the sporting annals to come across the glory days of both the Chicago Bears and Nottingham Forest. The legendary 1985 Bears won the franchise’s first and only Super Bowl, shortly after Forest conquered Europe by winning the European Cup (now known as the Champions League) back-to-back in 1979 and 1980. Both were led by style icons, too. While Forest manager Brian Clough was famed for the green sweater he wore during games, Mike Ditka made a blue Bears one his trademark.

But fans of these teams got glimpses this season of a potential return to the big time.

Although their 2024 campaign did not turn out as well as expected for the Bears (Chicago went 5-12 and are 24th in The Athletic’s post-Super Bowl power rankings), recently appointed head coach Ben Johnson and last year’s overall No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams give them hope for next season. Forest, after 14 months under head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, is currently in the Premier League’s top four, which means it could emulate Clough’s men and qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Cincinnati Bengals → Hull City

Artwork outside Hull City’s stadium in 2021. (George Wood / Getty Images)

Feline friends! Cincinnati’s NFL team are nicknamed for the Bengal Tiger, and Hull City is known as ‘The Tigers’ because of the club’s traditional amber and black home kit.

Hull doesn’t have a star player of the standing of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and has been in the second, and even third, tiers of English football since relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2016-2017 season.

The Tigers did possess a team talented enough to reach the FA Cup final in 2014, losing to Arsenal, while the Bengals got to the Super Bowl as recently as 2022. They are 0-3 in the NFL’s big dance, losing the other two against the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s.

Cleveland Browns → Southampton

With a 3-14 record this past season, the Cleveland Browns would have firmly been in relegation territory if such a thing existed in the NFL. Southampton is in a similarly grim position in terms of league rankings now.

If you were watching the 2024 Browns, you got used to the charismatic Jameis Winston and his turnover-prone style of play. While his risk-taking can sometimes make Winston seem like a great quarterback, they also led to 12 interceptions over 12 games.

Similarly, Southampton pursued a utopian style under previous manager Russell Martin earlier this season after winning promotion to the Premier League, which was largely possession-based football. Trying to play out of defense with personnel who weren’t quite up to it at elite level saw the Saints commit a stack of errors that led directly to opposition goals — and that got Martin fired.

Dallas Cowboys → Manchester United

Every year, fans of ‘America’s team’ will tell you this is the year the Dallas Cowboys come roaring back, that the cream always rises to the top. Only for them to fail to even come close to doing so.

Their lucrative brand means the Cowboys are always the centre of media attention, win or lose, and they draw on a long history of success, despite being poor in recent years. Sound familiar?

Denver Broncos → Leicester City

Denver head coach Sean Payton had a spell playing for the Leicester Panthers, one of the big names in the fledgling UK American football scene, as a young man in the 1980s and the similarities between these two teams do not stop there.

In the same year that 5,000-1 outsider Leicester shocked all and sundry by winning the 2015-16 Premier League, the Broncos were underdogs in the Super Bowl but beat the Carolina Panthers.

Detroit Lions → Bournemouth

Turnaround is the word for these two.

Bournemouth achieved its best Premier League points tally last season. The Detroit Lions, meanwhile, achieved their first playoff win in 32 years. Progress has continued this season under transformative Lions head coach Dan Campbell and Bournemouth counterpart Andoni Iraola.

Premier League watchers have seen some dazzling performances from Bournemouth this season, including beating Nottingham Forest 5-0 and Newcastle United 4-1 in recent weeks. Bournemouth looks set to beat last year’s record points haul, while the Lions finished with the joint-best record in the NFL. Experience the thrills twice over if you follow these teams.

Green Bay Packers → Bayern Munich

German side Bayern Munich and the Green Bay Packers are both considered ‘the people’s’ teams. Bayern is majority-owned by members and the Packers are owned mainly by their fans.

These historic clubs have also dominated their respective divisions in recent years. Bayern won 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles from 2013, while the Packers won the NFC North eight times between 2011 and 2021. Plus, Bayern are six-time champions of Europe and the Packers have four Super Bowls.

Houston Texans → Burnley

JJ Watt attends a Premier League match between Burnley and Manchester City in 2023. (Darren Staples / AFP via Getty Images)

There are other soccer teams with a trajectory more similar to the Houston Texans — a Premier League team who are, for instance, competing for European qualification, given they have been in the NFL playoffs for the past couple of years. Or, we could’ve chosen a team overshadowed by their more glamorous neighbors, as the Dallas Cowboys are in the same state.

But our recommendation is a club currently in the English second tier. Burnley is a Championship outfit with aspirations of swiftly returning to the Premier League after being relegated from it last season. What links them to the Texans? JJ Watt, Houston’s all-time leader in sacks and forced fumbles, is a Burnley co-owner.

Indianapolis Colts → Wolverhampton Wanderers 

Colts fans have hopes pinned on quarterback Anthony Richardson to be the future of the franchise. Regarded as an athletically gifted and dynamic talent, he needs more development time to reach his NFL potential.

Wolves know all about nurturing players who show flashes of genius but are yet to put it all together. Speedy Spanish winger Adama Traore, now at fellow Premier League side Fulham, made 157 appearances for the Midlands-based club. Opposition defenders resorted to grappling him so often, he wore baby oil to help foil would-be tacklers.

Liverpool forward Diogo Jota also started his Premier League career at Wolves, as did the talented midfielder Ruben Neves, now playing in the Saudi Pro League.

Jacksonville Jaguars → Fulham

The view across London from Fulham’s Craven Cottage which sits beside the River Thames. (Ryan Pierse / Getty Images)

In Shahid Khan, these teams share the same owner and they both call London home.

London is, at least, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ second home, as they have played at least one game in the English capital every year since 2013, the Covid-hit 2020 season aside. Both also have exciting players, such as forward Emile Smith Rowe at Fulham and Jaguars rookie sensation Brian Thomas Jr., yet neither side has enjoyed sustained success in recent years.

The Jaguars have never reached the Super Bowl and Fulham has never won the English first division — now known as the Premier League, of course.

Kansas City Chiefs → Manchester City

Prior to 2011, these two only had three championships (one Super Bowl and two First Division titles) between them. Since then, they have won with unprecedented consistency. Last season, City set a Premier League record by winning a fourth straight title and, since 2019, the Chiefs have reached five of the six Super Bowls, winning three.

In striker Erling Haaland and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, both possess players who are the best in the sport at their position and often enjoy absurd statistical games.

Las Vegas Raiders → Paris Saint-Germain

The Las Vegas Raiders and Paris Saint-Germain are both globally recognizable brands. Legendary rap group N.W.A. made the NFL team, then Los Angeles-based, synonymous with street culture by wearing Raiders merchandise during their rise to fame.

Paris Saint-Germain, PSG for short, has collaborated with Nike’s Jordan brand, while in the UK Thiago Silva, then a PSG player, was the name of a 2016 collaboration hit by British rappers AJ Tracey and Dave, making PSG jerseys with the Brazilian’s name on the back a popular choice at festivals.

Comparatively, PSG wins much more domestically than the Raiders but remains as desperate for Champions League glory as the Raiders — who have three Super Bowl titles to their name; two won in their original home city of Oakland, Calif., another from their time in LA — are for a return to the playoffs.

Los Angeles Chargers → Brentford

The LA Chargers are a respected team, reaching the playoffs in 2022 and 2024. Admittedly, they were expected to beat the Houston Texans in this season’s wild-card round but suffered a surprise defeat.

London-based Brentford is a solid Premier League side. In Thomas Frank and Chargers counterpart Jim Harbaugh, both have highly regarded head coaches and while neither has reached the heights of other teams in their city, they both play good football.

Los Angeles Rams → Chelsea

With the respective lures of Los Angeles and salubrious west London, both these clubs have a big market feel. Chelsea won a Champions League in May 2021 and the Rams won the Super Bowl in the 2021 season. The similarities don’t end there.

Chelsea has been very active in transfer activities since a new American-led ownership group took over in 2022, while the Rams have made aggressive ‘win now’ trades, such as their move for cornerback Jalen Ramsey in 2019, and in 2021 they made the Jared Goff/Matthew Stafford quarterback swap and pounced for pass rusher Von Miller. Their Super Bowl LVI MVP wide receiver Cooper Kupp looks likely to be traded or cut this offseason.

Miami Dolphins → Brighton & Hove Albion

A seagull on Brighton pier. (Dan Kitwood / Getty Images)

No club in England can replicate the sunshine, glamor and Latin influence of the city where the Dolphins are based. But if you take away the palm trees, then you end up with Brighton & Hove Albion. Possibly.

Brighton was even known as the Dolphins briefly in the 1970s before taking Seagulls as the club’s nickname. Plus, you can find these coastal teams competing towards the top of their leagues.

Minnesota Vikings → Tottenham Hotspur

Zero wins from four Super Bowl appearances. That’s why the Minnesota Vikings are being associated with Tottenham, a team that hasn’t won a trophy since 2008 and one which has a reputation of being ‘Spursy,’ meaning playing fan-pleasing attacking football built on rocky foundations, often crumbling in comedic fashion.

In terms of star power, Spurs’ Son Heung-min is one of the only Premier League wingers whose fandom matches, or arguably even exceeds, that of the Vikings’ wide receiver Justin Jefferson, arguably the best in the league in his position.

New England Patriots → Manchester United

Bill Belichick and Sir Alex Ferguson, both coaching royalty, once dominated their respective leagues.

Quarterback Tom Brady, for some, played a bigger role than Belichick in the Patriots’ two decades of success to begin this century but, regardless, the pair won six Super Bowls together. Ferguson secured 13 Premier League titles with United and two Champions League crowns, and though he retired in 2013 no one has come close to replicating the long-serving United manager’s success. Current head coach Ruben Amorim is the sixth permanent appointment to try.

In New England, the impossible job of replacing Belichick fell to Jerod Mayo last summer, and he was sacked after one season. The next chosen one is another of Belichick’s former Patriots players, Mike Vrabel.

New Orleans Saints → Leicester City OR Southampton

No soccer team in recent history has won a championship more controversially than the New Orleans Saints’ triumph at the end of the 2009 season.

In 2012, the league said that the Saints’ defensive players had undertaken a system of “bounty” payments during the 2009-11 seasons, which NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at the time said were “particularly troubling because they involved not just payments for ‘performance,’ but also for injuring opposing players.”

Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for a year without pay, while the Saints were fined $500,000 and made to forfeit 2012 and 2013 second-round draft picks.

With their 2010 Super Bowl victory a one-off triumph, so far at least, and the team experiencing a fallow period since, their rise and fall is reminiscent of Leicester City, which in 2023 became only the second former Premier League champion to subsequently get relegated.

On a name basis alone, however, consider Southampton, also known as the Saints.

New York Giants → West Ham United

The Manhattan skyline with The Statue of Liberty in the foreground. (Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images)

Two big-market teams that haven’t been living up to the billing.

There have been highs for both in the past. The Giants have four Super Bowl wins and there was a Conference League (one of the three European-level club competitions) victory for east London’s West Ham in 2023, but neither has had much success in their most recent season.

The Giants ended 3-14 and can look forward to another top-10 draft pick in April. West Ham has enjoyed more victories than the Giants managed but remain in the bottom half of the table, like their big-city cousins across the pond.

New York Jets → Everton

The last three New York Jets head coaches were defensive coordinators beforehand. Everton has only just parted ways with Sean Dyche, known for a physical and defensive managerial style. Back in the dugout for a second spell as manager is David Moyes, whose sides play better when sitting deep and striking on the counter-attack.

Most years, the Jets and Everton are in the shadows of the other teams in their city, the Giants and Liverpool, while injury problems to star players are another common theme. Four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon four plays into his 2023 debut season with the Jets, which forced him to miss the entire campaign; Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Everton’s England-striker talisman, has suffered injuries in recent years, most recently tearing his hamstring last month. This and last season he had been readily available, but he managed to play in only 17 league games (of 38) in both 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.

Philadelphia Eagles → Liverpool OR Crystal Palace

Palace’s bald eagle mascot Kayla at a 2018 Premier League match against Burnley. (Mike Hewitt / Getty Images)

Flying high as Super Bowl LIX champions, Philadelphia Eagles fans have already experienced title glory once this season. To relive that euphoric feeling, they should follow Liverpool, the team currently leading the Premier League and favorite to win the title.

These are teams from working-class cities who have had recent successes under two different managers/head coaches. Doug Pederson led the Eagles to the franchise’s first Super Bowl win seven years ago before Nick Sirianni did earlier this month. At Liverpool, it has been a smooth transition so far from the legendary Jurgen Klopp, the man who guided them to a first league title in 30 years in 2019-20, to current head coach Arne Slot.

If matching animals is more important for you though, Crystal Palace is nicknamed the Eagles and the team have one as part of their logo.

Pittsburgh Steelers → Arsenal

This season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were reminiscent of Arsenal during Arsene Wenger’s final years as their manager in the mid-2010s. Mike Tomlin has been the Steelers head coach since 2007 and has delivered 18 years straight of winning records but won his only Super Bowl at the end of his second season, just like Wenger kept delivering Arsenal top-four finishes without claiming the title, having won three Premier Leagues early on.

In north London, the fans eventually wanted more. While the NFL teams who sacked their 2024 head coaches have all now hired replacements, there are whispers that Tomlin could be traded during this offseason. Are the Steelers about to unearth their Mikel Arteta?

San Francisco 49ers → Barcelona

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was the 262nd and last player picked in the 2022 NFL Draft, leading him to be branded ‘Mr Irrelevant.’ Yet, he has gone on to become a household name. The 49ers’ top running back Christian McCaffrey was the cover star of EA Sports’ game Madden 25.

A soccer club that has a conveyor belt of star players is Barcelona. Not only does Barca unearth young talent through its coveted La Masia academy, the La Liga club has also reinvigorated careers. For example, few would have taken winger Raphinha for the world-beater he has become with Barcelona when he was fighting relegation with Leeds United in the 2022-23 Premier League.

Barcelona has also won as many Champions League titles (five) as the 49ers have won Super Bowls.

Seattle Seahawks → Newcastle United

From one passionate fanbase to another, Seattle Seahawks and Newcastle United fans are arguably the most fervent in the NFL and Premier League respectively. Tucked away in northern corners of their countries, gamedays in their stadiums are something to behold because of the atmosphere.

While the Legion of Boom — the water-tight defensive secondary who helped the team win the Super Bowl in 2014 and get back to the big game a year later — are still vaunted in Seattle, the legend of Alan Shearer, the most prolific scorer of the Premier League era with 261 goals, is unlikely to be topped in Newcastle.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers → Juventus

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a player considered their sport’s greatest ever join them in the twilight of his career. A 42-year-old Tom Brady left the New England Patriots in 2020 and finished his career with the Florida team, turning around their fortunes to win the Super Bowl in his debut season four years ago.

At age 33, Cristiano Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in 2018, another all-time great making a move when everyone thought he was past his peak. Perhaps tellingly, Juventus hasn’t won the Italian league title since the 2019-2020 season, the year Ronaldo departed for a second spell with Manchester United.

Juventus has won the Champions League twice, and the Buccaneers have, yes, you guessed it, two Super Bowls.

Italy has also made its mark on the NFL franchise before: quarterback Vinny Testaverde became the first Italian-American ever selected first overall in the league’s annual player draft — by the Buccaneers in 1987.

Tennessee Titans → Wrexham

The Tennessee Titans are comparable to Wrexham — who are in League One, the English third tier — in that they have not been playing at the same level as many of the other teams over the past season. They were one of three teams to finish 3-14 and will be picking high in the NFL Draft.

If the Titans select star college quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of former NFL and MLB star Deion, with the No. 1 overall pick in April, things could get a lot more interesting, just as they did in Wrexham in 2021 when Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over the Welsh club.

Media coverage would pick up, and so could their fortunes on the pitch, much like at Wrexham, which has achieved back-to-back promotions under celebrity owners and is pushing for three in a row. This makes sense, even if McElhenney is also a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan.

Washington Commanders → Aston Villa

Both shocked observers in the most recently completed seasons of their respective leagues by finishing in the top four. Jayden Daniels had a breakout 2024 rookie season, leading the perennially lousy Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship Game, while Aston Villa has its own up-and-coming playmaker in Morgan Rogers, who helped the club to fourth place in 2023-24.

Eight months after Villa won its only European Cup (now Champions League) final in May 1982, Washington won the first of their three Super Bowl titles. The Washington team has had several rebrands in recent years, playing under three different names, and Villa has shown similar indecisiveness with the club logo changing several times.

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)