As Chiefs command international stage, Kansas City fans are swarming here in Germany

As Victoria and Kelvin Haynes were going through immigration control at the Frankfurt Airport, they told the agent their reason for being here: to attend the Chiefs-Dolphins game on Sunday at Deutsche Bank Park.

His response initially made them think he was hoping to go to the game himself. But he meant something else entirely.

“‘No, I want to go to Arrowhead to go to a game,’” Victoria recalled him saying. “So when you have someone from Germany telling you that their bucket list (includes) getting to Arrowhead to watch a game, you know we have made an international presence.”

And in an emerging new sphere now for the team led by face of the NFL and two-time league and Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, stellar defensive lineman Chris Jones and superstar tight end Travis Kelce — whose profile has surged amid his relationship with global icon Taylor Swift.

But the franchise also is flexing something else during this momentous weekend in Germany, where the Chiefs are playing in just the second regular-season game ever held in this country some 33 years after they played in the first NFL preseason game here.

Chiefs fans, who generally travel well, appear to have swarmed Frankfurt in overwhelming numbers that suggest they will eclipse Dolphins fans here.

Now, this is a less-than-scientific theory based largely on observations in a few bursts that included a couple specific trips to the Chiefs ChampionShip — billed as a “custom-wrapped, Chiefs-themed” boat touted “to serve as the central hub of activity and entertainment throughout the club’s stay in Germany.”

Could be that there are way more Dolphins fans here than the few we’ve seen ... but one national media member considered the visitors to be 99-1 Chiefs fans.

Whatever it turns out to be in the stadium on Sunday, though, know this: Reflecting the ardent following that in 2014 created the “loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium” — 142.2 decibels, as judged by Guinness World Records — Chiefs fans have showed up and showed out here.

Sitting beside his father, Tom, with his son, Aidan, nearby, Keith Odell of Lee’s Summit put it this way: “It’s three generations on a once-in-a-lifetime trip.”

In the case of the Odells, that included being just hours off a plane, getting ready to board a train to see one of three soccer games they’ll take in around Germany, too. Aidan Odell is a freshman playing varsity soccer at Spring Hill High; Keith Odell is a Sporting KC season-ticket holder who was wearing a Sporting hoodie.

“My son tells me you haven’t seen anything like the way these (soccer) fans are,” said Tom Odell, wearing a Chiefs T-shirt.

Just the same, the soccer fans haven’t necessarily seen anything like Chiefs fans.

For that matter, some still don’t quite get the difference in the sports despite the rising popularity of the NFL and hundreds of media here to cover the event.

“‘You’re here for the soccer match; you call it football,’” Jeanne Boyer of Lenexa recalled hearing.

She spoke near the ChampionShip, waiting to board with her husband, Kevin, and son, Jeremy Adkins.

And was she ever thrilled by just about everything involved with her first trip overseas: the hospitality, the sightseeing, the food, meeting superfan Lynn “Weirdwolf” Schmidt, even flying on the same plane as Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.

Most of all, though, this was about getting to be here with (and at the urging of) her son, who now lives in Hoboken, New Jersey, but remains steeped in his Kansas City roots.

“You can’t pick a better time to be a sports fan in Kansas City than over the last 10 years,” he said.

The decade has featured three Chiefs Super Bowl appearances, with two triumphs, two Royals World Series appearances (winning in 2015), Sporting winning the 2013 MLS Cup, Kansas winning the 2022 NCAA men’s basketball title, the rise of the KC Current, the 2023 NFL Draft and becoming a host city for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Now you can add this game and, yes, even the mystique of the Kelce-Swift relationship to the mix: Adkins went to the Chiefs-Jets game she attended and was struck by the ripple effect … in Hoboken.

“The week before, I’m the only one wearing a Chiefs jersey where I live,” he said. “And a week later, just hundreds of people were wearing Kelce and Mahomes jerseys.”

On Halloween, he saw numerous Kelce-Swift costume combos and displays. Between that and all the high fives and “Go, Chiefs” he’s been getting the last few weeks, he said, “It’s like a world movement.”

Added his mother: “It is a movement … I’m happy to have Taylor on my team, honestly.”

But for all the newcomers welcome to the bandwagon, whether Germans or “Swifties,” those here certainly include the longtime faithful like Victoria and Kelvin Haynes — who also were looking forward to boarding the ship.

Asked how far back their fandom goes, he smiled and casually said, “Since birth” and made it a point to express his gratitude for the “class act” that Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt was and for his ongoing influence.

“Born and raised,” Victoria added. “You’re born in Kansas City; you’re a Chiefs fan for life.”

In sickness and in health.

“I was there for 2-14; I was there for 4-12,” Kelvin said. “You try to see improvement. And you try to enjoy the weather. Or the sunshine on your face. Or something. Because we were not very competitive at that time.

“But my team was still my team.”

One now on an entirely new tier, both in terms of its recent success and its burgeoning international identity — an identity amplified by its following.

“To call yourself world champs, you’ve got to win all over the world,” Kelvin said. “And I think this is a really good opportunity to showcase everything, and the greatness that Kansas City is. And being a Mahomes-led team and ushering in a new era of, really, excellence and overall victory.”

An era tour the fans are part of in their own notable way.