OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens will be facing the Dallas Cowboys in Brazil in the 2026 season.
On Friday, the Ravens were named the Cowboys’ opponent for the first NFL game in Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 27. The Cowboys were announced as the host team in early February, but their opponent wasn’t revealed until Friday.
The game in Rio is scheduled to start at 4:25 p.m. ET and will be played at historic Maracana Stadium, which has a capacity of more than 78,000. This was the site of the 1950 and 2014 men’s World Cup finals in soccer as well as the opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympics.
This marks only the third international game in the Ravens’ 31-year history. Baltimore’s previous two games outside of the United States were played in London, where the Ravens lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars 44-7 in 2017 and beat the Tennessee Titans 24-16 in 2023.
This will be the third straight year the NFL will have a game in Brazil. In 2024 and 2025, the games were played in Sao Paulo.
There will be a record nine international games in 2026 that will be played across four continents, seven countries and eight stadiums. Paris, Munich, Madrid and London (three) also will serve as host cities to go along with Rio, Mexico City and Melbourne.
The Cowboys will be the home team in an international game for the first time. They have not played an international game since 2014, when they beat the Jacksonville Jaguars at London’s Wembley Stadium. They have also played preseason games in Toronto, Tokyo, London, Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico.
In 2014, the Cowboys spent the week of preparation in London, but the current plan is for the team to arrive in Rio later in the week. Teams are eligible to take their bye week following an international game, but with the Rio game being so early in the season, the Cowboys are expected to play the following week.
ESPN’s Todd Archer contributed to this report.
