{"id":870387,"date":"2026-08-27T15:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870387\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T15:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:28:14","slug":"what-to-know-about-nfls-international-slate-includes-melbourne-rio-and-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870387\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about NFL’s international slate includes Melbourne, Rio and Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON — The NFL<\/a> will play a record nine games internationally this season and they include three cities hosting for the first time: Melbourne, Australia; Rio de Janeiro; and Paris.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville and San Francisco both play two games abroad: the Jaguars back-to-back in London; the 49ers in Melbourne and later in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some handy information about the games and locations.<\/p>\n

Talk about pushing boundaries. The Los Angeles Rams<\/a> face the San Francisco 49ers<\/a> in a game at Melbourne Cricket Ground. The league has never staged a regular-season game so far from home. It\u2019s a nearly 16-hour flight from the West Coast. The NFL West matchup will kick off at 10:35 a.m. local time Friday, Sept. 11, in Melbourne \u2014 which will be 8:35 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, on the U.S. East Coast.<\/p>\n

The 100,000-capacity stadium, known as \u201cThe G,\u201d is the largest on the NFL schedule<\/a> this season. Aussies call American football \u201cgridiron\u201d so as not to confuse it with Australian Rules Football. Visitors might want to look up Shane Warne<\/a> to get a flavor of Australian cricket history.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s Team\u201d is coming to the famed Maracan\u00e3 Stadium on Sept. 27. The Dallas Cowboys<\/a> will play just their second-ever regular-season international game when they face the Baltimore Ravens. In 2014, the Cowboys beat the Jaguars 31-17 at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n

Rio is hosting for the first time and has what looks like a good QB matchup: Dak Prescott<\/a> vs. Lamar Jackson<\/a>. The league has committed to playing at least three regular-season games in Rio over the next five years. There have been two previous games in Brazil \u2014 both in Sao Paulo.<\/p>\n

Dallas to Rio is an estimated 10-hour flight.<\/p>\n

The Maracan\u00e3 has staged two men\u2019s World Cup finals \u2014 in 1950 and 2014. It was also the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n

London has been a mainstay for the NFL since 2007. Forty-two of the 62 regular-season games played internationally so far have been staged in London. Three more are on tap this season. <\/p>\n

The first two will be at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: Indianapolis vs. Washington on Oct. 4; and Philadelphia<\/a> vs. Jacksonville on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n

The Jags pull double duty by staying to face the Houston Texans on Oct. 18 at Wembley Stadium \u2014 and by doing so will become the first team to play two home games abroad in the same season<\/a>. The Jags, who have a 7-7 record in London games, are undergoing stadium renovations at home.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s only other trip to London ended in a 27-27 tie \u2014 or a \u201cdraw\u201d as the locals would call it \u2014 with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2016. Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels<\/a> will look to make his international debut after missing last year\u2019s Madrid game because of injury.<\/p>\n

The NFL finally makes it to the City of Light. Practices in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower perhaps?<\/p>\n

The New Orleans Saints<\/a> have the French connections and the Pittsburgh Steelers have the star quarterback \u2014 Aaron Rodgers \u2014 for the first regular-season game in Paris. The 42-year-old Rodgers headlined Dublin\u2019s debut<\/a> as a host city last season and figures to be in the spotlight at Stade de France on Oct. 25.<\/p>\n

The 80,000-seat stadium, located just north of the capital in Saint-Denis, was the centerpiece of the 2024 Paris Olympics<\/a> \u2014 Tom Cruise descended from the roof during the closing ceremony. It opened in 1998, when it hosted the FIFA World Cup final \u2014 France beat Brazil 3-0.<\/p>\n

Joe Burrow goes international for the first time \u2014 as a player anyway. The Bengals quarterback was a hit at Vogue World 2024<\/a> in Paris.<\/p>\n

He’s set to make his international debut at Bernabeu Stadium when Cincinnati faces the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> on Nov. 8. It will be Cincinnati\u2019s first game outside the U.S. since a 24-10 loss to the Rams in London<\/a> in 2019 in Zac Taylor\u2019s first season as head coach. The Falcons lost to the Colts in Berlin<\/a> last season.<\/p>\n

The 83,186-capacity Bernabeu is home to Real Madrid soccer club \u2014 one of the most recognized sporting brands in the world. Real Madrid’s soccer team has more Instagram followers \u2014 180 million \u2014 than the combined total of all 32 NFL teams.<\/p>\n

Last year, Bernabeu hosted Spain\u2019s first regular-season game when the Miami Dolphins, led by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, beat the Washington Commanders 16-13 in overtime<\/a>. Tagovailoa has since joined the Falcons.<\/p>\n

The Patriots-Lions matchup in Bavaria looks promising. New England reached the Super Bowl<\/a> last season but the big draw will be a homecoming for Detroit wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown<\/a>. The star’s mother was born in Germany and he has a big following among the NFL\u2019s large German fan base<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Nov. 15 game at Bayern Munich\u2019s home stadium will be the third NFL game in Munich. The first one, in 2022, was Germany\u2019s first regular-season NFL game and Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers past the Seattle Seahawks 21-16. Days earlier, Brady had been gifted lederhosen<\/a>. The crowd sang \u2018Take Me Home, Country Roads\u2019 \u2014 and the seven-time Super Bowl champion called it \u201cone of the great football experiences that I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note to visiting fans, if you enjoy downing pre-game beers, probably best to bring some with you on the train ride to the stadium. Seahawks fans complained no alcohol was served by vendors outside the venue.<\/p>\n

The NFL returns to Mexico City for the first time since 2022 for a matchup between the 49ers and Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 22.<\/p>\n

Azteca Stadium<\/a>, which has been renamed Banorte, hosted the very first regular-season game played outside the U.S. when the Arizona Cardinals beat San Francisco 31-14 in 2005 before a crowd of 103,467. (A Cowboys-Giants regular-season game in 2009 eclipsed 105,000). The first play from scrimmage<\/a> was a wild one \u2014 a strip-sack that resulted in a touchdown.<\/p>\n

Four years ago, the 49ers were prepared for the high altitude<\/a> and beat the Cardinals 38-10. Azteca then underwent renovations for the 2026 World Cup and its current capacity is 87,523.<\/p>\n

The Vikings played in Dublin and London<\/a> in consecutive weeks last season and are 5-1 overall in regular-season international games.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON — The NFL will play a record nine games internationally this season and they include three cities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,6672,85],"class_list":["post-870387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}