NFL to play 3 regular-season games over 5 years in Rio de Janeiro beginning in 2026 | iNFOnews.ca
An image of a football is projected onto the city hall building in downtown São Paulo to promote the NFL season opener between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

NFL to play 3 regular-season games over 5 years in Rio de Janeiro beginning in 2026

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The NFL will play three regular-season games over five years in Rio de Janeiro beginning in 2026.

The league announced the multiyear commitment Friday as part of its ongoing plan to take international games to new cities around the world.

The NFL already has played twice in Brazil — Green Bay and Philadelphia in 2024; Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1 this season — at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo. The league will now expand across the country to the iconic Maracana Stadium in Rio.

Detroit, Miami, New England and Philadelphia have international marketing rights in Brazil under the NFL’s global markets program, which promotes brand awareness and fandom beyond the United States.

“Building on the success of the games in Sao Paulo, we could not be more excited to play in one of the world’s most iconic cities — Rio de Janeiro,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with our city and state partners in Rio along with the historic Maracana Stadium to deepen our ties to the tens of millions of fans in Brazil and across South America.”

The NFL has played 56 regular-season games internationally, with Frankfurt, London, Mexico City, Munich, Sao Paulo and Toronto hosting games to date. As part of the 2025 International Games and following the opener game in Sao Paulo, Dublin, London, Berlin and Madrid will host games in the coming weeks.

Also in 2026, Australia will host an NFL game for the first time at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the league’s regular-season debut on the continent.

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