The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play host to the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium next season in the third National Football League regular season gridiron game to be played in London.

The two teams, who are regular play-off contenders in their respective conferences, will meet on Sunday, October 25, with the Bucs, who are owned by the Glazer family along with Manchester United, named as the home side.

The Patriots have been one of the most successful NFL teams in recent seasons, winning the Super Bowl in 2002, 2004 and 2005. They lost last year’s Super Bowl XLII to a dramatic late touchdown against the New York Giants, denying them only the second perfect season in NFL history and have Tom Brady, one of the most flamboyant players in the league, at quarterback.

The Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in 2003.

In October this year, the New Orleans Saints beat the San Diego Chargers 37-32 in front of a crowd of 83,226 at Wembley. Last year, the Giants beat the Miami Dolphins 13-10 before another sell-out crowd on their way to Super Bowl glory.

“Over the past two years, we have seen first-hand the excitement that exists for our sport in the UK,” said Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner. “The games have helped us to deepen our connection with our UK fans as well as create new ones. We are looking forward to another outstanding game in 2009.”

The commitment from the NFL to play at Wembley continues for another two seasons, and there has been strong speculation that the 2009 season could see two games played on British shores.

“Our focus has been on getting this game arranged, agreed and announced,” Alistair Kirkwood, the NFL UK managing director, said. “Once this is done, then we can move on to other things.”

Each of the last two games at Wembley were over-subscribed in terms of the number of fans registering their interest in buying tickets, and this game is likely to go the same way given the strength of the Patriots’ fan base in the UK.

“I think it is fitting that New England’s first game to be played outside of North America will be in England,” said Patriots owner Robert Kraft. “I know that the UK is home to some of our most passionate Patriots fans and we look forward to the experience.”

Joel Glazer, the Manchester United co-chairman, who serves as executive vice-president for the Bucs, said: “The Tampa Bay Buccaneers organisation is extremely excited and honoured to be chosen to participate in the NFL International Series.

“We look forward to being part of the NFL’s global outreach and playing our great game in front of Buccaneers fans overseas.”