NFL heads to Melbourne, Rio and Paris for the first time in 2026, is this global expansion good for the sport or a step too far

[Nomad]

The NFL's international ambitions have reached a new level for the 2026 season, with a record nine games now scheduled to be played outside the United States, including the league's first ever regular season fixtures in Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Paris on top of its now well established London slate. Australia hosted the opening act, with the San Francisco 49ers facing the Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Week 1, before Rio de Janeiro's iconic Maracanã Stadium welcomed the Baltimore Ravens against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3, and Paris is set to get its own taste of the league when the Pittsburgh Steelers meet the New Orleans Saints at the Stade de France in Week 7.

London, meanwhile, continues to anchor the league's international programme with three separate games spread across consecutive October Sundays, starting with the Indianapolis Colts against the Washington Commanders at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Week 4, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles taking on the Jacksonville Jaguars at the same venue the following week, before Wembley Stadium hosts the Houston Texans against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who find themselves crossing the Atlantic for a second London appearance inside a single fortnight.

NFL executive Peter O'Reilly framed the expanded schedule as a genuinely landmark moment for the league, describing it as a record breaking slate that will see marquee franchises compete in some of the most iconic sporting venues on the planet, while the league's UK general manager Henry Hodgson was equally keen to stress that London's own prominence within the international programme is not being diluted even as the NFL's global footprint continues to grow into entirely new territories elsewhere around the world.