NFL takes its commitment to international expansion a step further with move that shows how serious the league is about Brazil
The league is going to a new city in 2026.
The NFL is serious about expanding its brand to Brazil. On Friday, the league announced a multiyear commitment to play a minimum of three regular season games over five years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Over the past two years, the NFL had two games in São Paulo—Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles in 2024, and Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers in 2025. Games in Rio will begin in 2026.
“Building on the success of the games in São Paulo, we could not be more excited to play in one of the world’s most iconic cities — Rio de Janeiro,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “We look forward to working closely with our city and state partners in Rio along with the historic Maracanã Stadium to deepen our ties to the tens of millions of fans in Brazil and across South America.”
NFL at Maracanã
As Goodell mentioned, the games will be played at Maracanã, an iconic soccer stadium that has hosted two FIFA World Cup finals, in 1950 and 2014, and was the main venue of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Brazil is the third NFL market in the world, after the United States and Mexico.
“We are delighted to announce that Maracanã Stadium will host a regular season NFL game next year in Rio de Janeiro,” said Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro Cláudio Castro. “Brazil is now the second-largest consumer of American football outside the United States, and thousands of tourists and sports fans have dreamed of experiencing this event at the world’s most famous stadium. Bringing the NFL to Rio is a milestone that will boost tourism, create jobs, stimulate the economy, and show the strength of our state as an international sports destination.”
São Paulo can still host some NFL games eventually—it’s reasonable to expect that each city will alternate to host a game in Brazil per year.
Through the NFL’s Global Markets Program, the Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles hold marketing rights in Brazil. That doesn’t mean, though, that these teams will have a higher chance of playing in the country.
Unlike what happened in 2024 and 2025, the Brazil game in 2026 is not expected to be on the Friday of Week 1, because the league will likely play an early game in Australia to kick off the regular season.
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