The San Francisco 49ers will bookend the NFL 's largest ever international slate, playing the 2026 season opener in Melbourne against the NFC West rival Los Angeles Rams and facing the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11 in Mexico City.
Covering eight stadiums, seven cities and four continents, this year will feature nine games outside of the U.S. for the most the league has ever staged. Sixteen teams, exactly half of the NFL, will play internationally in 2026.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has declared the goal of 16 games annually outside of the U.S. After this season, the league will have played 71 games in 12 different international cities. Melbourne, Paris and Rio de Janeiro are first-time hosts in 2026.
The league had months ago announced the Melbourne matchup as its first game in Australia in addition to several of the participating teams for the nine-game slate, which was fully unveiled on Wednesday. The complete 17-game schedules for all 32 teams will be released on Thursday.
The 49ers have long been one of the NFL's most prominent brands, and they'll be the road team for the Thursday night opener on Sept. 10 against the Rams on Netflix. That game will kick off on Friday morning at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is 17 hours ahead of California time.
San Francisco will be the home team at Estadio Banorte in Mexico City, where they have marketing rights as part of the league's global markets program along with the Rams and eight other teams. The Rams also have rights in Australia.
The 49ers will then play the showcase Sunday night game on NBC on Nov. 22 against the Vikings, who last year played the NFL's first international multi-city road trip with a game in Dublin in Week 4 followed by a game in London in Week 5. The Vikings were the road team in both of those games last year, too.
San Francisco last played in Mexico City in 2022. The league has also committed to playing there in 2027 and 2028.
The Dallas Cowboys will be the home team in Rio de Janeiro at Maracana Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 27, a late afternoon Week 3 game that CBS will broadcast. Neither team has marketing rights in Brazil, where the league has staged games in Sao Paulo in each of the last two years. The NFL has committed at least three games in five years to Rio.
All six games in Europe will kick off at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, an exclusive broadcast window before the traditional afternoon start times that cover the majority of the schedule each week.
There are three games in London, the league's most common international site with 45 regular-season games since 2007. The Jacksonville Jaguars for the first time are moving consecutive home games abroad as a renovation begins on their home stadium. They're one of 10 teams with rights in Britain.
The Jaguars will play the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 5 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Oct. 11 and then face the AFC South rival Houston Texans in Week 6 at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 18. The Washington Commanders will be the home team at Tottenham on Oct. 4 when they face the Indianapolis Colts.
The New Orleans Saints will be the home team for the first game in Paris in Week 7, facing the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 25 at Stade de France. The Saints are the only team with marketing rights in France. The Detroit Lions will be the home team for the league's third ever game in Munich, facing the New England Patriots on Nov. 15 in Week 10 at the home of German soccer club Bayern Munich. The Lions are one of 11 teams with rights in Germany.
As previously announced by the NFL, the Atlanta Falcons will be the home team in Madrid in Week 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals on Nov. 8 at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. This will be the second game in Madrid, where neither team has marketing rights.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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