NFL To Continue Playing Games In Madrid; Paris Debut Coming In 2026
10:30am: Announcements from the league and the Saints have since confirmed the report. New Orleans will indeed play in the NFL’s first ever Paris game during the 2026 season.
9:02am: The NFL played its first ever game in Madrid this season. The league will continue to visit the Spanish capital in 2026 and beyond. 
A multi-year partnership has been reached which will see the NFL stage regular-season contests at the Bernabéu Stadium, per a league announcement on Monday. Games will continue to be played at the home stadium for Real Madrid, as this year’s Dolphins-Commanders matchup was in November. The iconic venue will host another game in 2026, adding further to the list of international markets confirmed for next year.
The NFL will once again play three games in London during the 2026 season. Munich and Rio de Janeiro will each be the site of one contest, and the league will also make its debut in Melbourne. Continued international expansion has long been known as a major goal for the NFL, with a growing list of markets serving as hosts for games and global investments being made in the development of flag football. Expansion to an 18-game regular season is expected to be accompanied by a setup which sees all 32 teams play overseas once per year.
The Dolphins are among the teams which hold international marketing rights in Spain, which made them a logical choice to take part in the debut Madrid contest. The Eagles and Bears also hold rights there, so it would come as no surprise if one of them were to make the trip to Spain in 2026. It is already known the Rams will be participating in the Melbourne game next season.
The NFL is regularly exploring new markets, and Paris has long been on the league’s radar. A regular-season game being played there as early as 2026 was raised as a possibility in November, and it appears as though that will indeed be the case. A weekend report from RMC Sport indicates the Saints and Browns are set to play against each other at the Stade de France in October of next season. Nothing has been confirmed by the NFL at this point, however.
New Orleans is the NFL’s only team which currently has marketing rights in France. That makes the Saints an obvious candidate to participate in the league’s Paris debut. An announcement confirming their inclusion in the 2026 international series will be something to watch for this offseason.
NFL’s Paris Debut Expected To Include Saints, Could Take Place In 2026
Europe remains a key target for the NFL’s ongoing international expansion. One of the cities yet to host a regular season game is Paris, but that could change soon. 
France has been on the league’s radar since at least 2022. A number of new European markets have been explored in recent years, including debut regular games in Ireland and Spain taking place in 2025. Dublin and Madrid could very well continue to serve as host cities moving forward, and Paris could join them as early as next year.
“You might hear in the next couple weeks that we might be having a game internationally, and that game may be in Paris,” Saints president Dennis Lauscha said (via NOLA.com’s Jeff Duncan). “We have the rights to the country of France and Monaco, so that makes so much sense, we think. We’re really excited about that [possibility].”
The Saints are currently the only NFL team with international marketing rights in France. As such, it would come as no surprise if they were to be the designated home team for the league’s first ever Paris contest. Lauscha added a game there could take place as early as next season. That timing would align with the NFL’s process in terms of evaluating venues and logistical matters relative to other new host cities.
The league hopes to stage eight international games in 2026. Broadly speaking, one of the league’s goals for continued growth outside the United States is to eventually have each team play one game overseas per year. That setup could very well include Paris on a regular basis. France’s largest venue is the Stade de France, and it would presumably play host to any games held in the country.
Divisional matchups have taken place in international games, but they are rare. As such, New Orleans’ opponent for any 2026 game to be held in Paris would likely come from the team’s remaining slate of home game. That leaves the Browns, Steelers, Packers and Vikings among the potential candidates to play in the league’s first France contest.
NFL Considering Regular Season Games In Dublin, Paris
2024 will see the NFL’s first game played in Brazil as the league continues to explore new foreign markets. A number of other host countries are also receiving consideration with notable expansion on that front potentially on the horizon. 
Dublin and Paris are on the league’s radar, Henry Hodgson recently confirmed. Hodgson serves as the general manager of the NFL’s UK office, one of the departments playing a key role in evaluating new venues and hosts for NFL games. France had previously been named as a potential host country in the near future, but the same was not true of Ireland.
“There’s a feasibility study, as we would call it, in a number of different European cities and Dublin is one of those,” Hodgson said (via Laura Colgan of The Irish Times). “Looking at the stadiums, taking local meetings… we’ll take away all of that information, digest it and determine what the next steps are.”
The league has followed a similar process in the past, and that led to agreements with Sao Paulo and Madrid to host regular season games. Croke Park and Aviva Stadium are the venues under consideration in Dublin at this time. The former was the venue for a preseason contest between the Steelers and Bears in 1997, and it has a capacity of over 82,000.
The Steelers – a team which has a formal partnership in place with the Gaelic Athletic Association – are among those in the NFL with international marketing rights in Ireland and Northern Ireland. That is also the case for the Jaguars, while the Jets added Ireland this offseason. At least one of those teams would likely take part in a game held there in the future.
As of now, the Saints are the only team with marketing rights in France. They would represent a logical candidate to play a game in Paris, one of several sites being considered in some capacity. Sweden and Australia have also been floated as possibilities, although logistics in the latter country in particular are a notable challenge which would need to be overcome relative to those of playing in South America or Europe.
“We continue to look at and have interest in all the major cities across Europe,” Hodgson added. “For now, Paris, Dublin – obviously we’re heading into Madrid in 2025 – those are the ones we’re most focused on in Europe.”