NFL International Series: 80 touchdowns around the world

Imagine a Premier League club moving one of its home fixtures to Los Angeles. The uproar would be spectacular. In the NFL that has been business as usual for years — and by now the ball flies across five continents. The 2026 season brings nine games outside the United States. More than ever before.

How NFL Europe became the International Series

When Roger Goodell took over as commissioner in 2006, he made expansion his personal project. What he built was an upgrade on the old NFL Europe: not a separate league with its own teams, but genuine regular-season games between the best sides in the world, played in front of crowds who otherwise only see them on television in the middle of the night.

It started in London in 2007. Since then the series has grown past fifty games — after the 2026 season it will be around 64.

One team has earned a reputation of its own along the way: the Jacksonville Jaguars have played in London so often that the city treats them as half a home side.

The 2026 season: nine games, three firsts

2026 is the biggest edition so far — and it brings three places where the NFL has never staged a regular-season game.

11 Sep	Melbourne, Melbourne Cricket Ground	49ers – Rams	first game in Australia
27 Sep	Rio de Janeiro, Maracanã	Ravens – Cowboys	first game at the Maracanã
4 Oct	London, Tottenham	Colts – Commanders
11 Oct	London, Tottenham	Eagles – Jaguars
18 Oct	London, Wembley	Texans – Jaguars
25 Oct	Paris, Stade de France	Steelers – Saints	first game in France
8 Nov	Madrid, Santiago Bernabéu	Bengals – Falcons
15 Nov	Munich, Allianz Arena	Lions – Patriots
22 Nov	Mexico City	Vikings – 49ers

The season therefore opens on the other side of the planet: the game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground kicks off on a Friday morning local time — which for European viewers means football with breakfast.

London: three games, and still the centre of it all

Three of the nine games are in London, and that is no accident. It began at Wembley in 2007, Twickenham had a spell in between, and since 2019 the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has been part of it — the only stadium in Europe designed with American football in mind from the start, with a retractable pitch and an artificial surface underneath.

For anyone travelling from Ireland, the Benelux or Scandinavia, the October block is the obvious target: three consecutive weekends, one city, and a country where the sport has an established following rather than a novelty audience. Dublin's Croke Park has hosted a game of its own, and there is every reason to expect it back.

The continent: Munich, Madrid and, for the first time, Paris

Germany has been a fixture since 2022. Munich went first, Frankfurt followed in 2023, and the two have alternated since. In 2026 the league is at the Allianz Arena: Detroit Lions against New England Patriots on 15 November.

That Germany got a permanent slot so quickly has solid reasons behind it. No country outside the United States buys more subscriptions to the league's digital product, Germany leads on fantasy football, and on shirt sales it sits second only to England. Anyone who has seen the stands in Munich or Frankfurt knows that is not a statistic but a fanbase.

Paris joins in 2026 at the Stade de France, and Madrid returns to the Santiago Bernabéu — both of them a short hop from London, Amsterdam or Brussels, and both offering the kind of weekend a stadium alone never does.

The stadiums: from Wembley to the Maracanã

Mexico City has been on the schedule since 2016. Its stadium, known for decades as the Estadio Azteca, now carries the name Estadio Banorte — so do not be thrown if you see both.

Alongside those sit the newer venues: Munich and the Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Madrid at the Bernabéu, São Paulo, Dublin's Croke Park — and in 2026, for the first time, Paris, Rio and Melbourne.

What makes an international game different from a home game

Three things worth knowing beforehand.

There is no real home team. One side gives up its home fixture, and inside the stadium both camps sit mixed together — along with thousands wearing neither shirt, but that of their own favourite franchise. You will see more different NFL jerseys at one game in Europe than at any game in the United States.

The programme around it is part of the product. Fan zones in the city centres, helmet parades, American breakfast shows broadcasting live from the main square. The league knows it is not selling a game here but a weekend.

And it gets tight. At every European game the official sale buckles under demand. If you have ever sat at queue position 300,000, you know exactly what this means.

Booking an NFL trip: ticket and hotel together

Which is where we come in. At the European games the ticket alone is rarely the problem — the combination is: a ticket and a room in a city that is full that weekend anyway. Our allocations do not run through the same public sale, so an empty official shop does not mean nothing is left.

And one thing customers mention most often afterwards: you sit together. In the official sale a group of four not uncommonly ends up with four single seats in four different blocks.

All games and categories are on our page for the NFL International Games. London has an overview of its own: NFL London Games.

Tell us which game interests you and how many of you are travelling — we will come back with a proposal.

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Last updated: 21 August 2026. The NFL usually announces the following season's fixtures in the spring; we update this page when it does.