The Dallas Cowboys will make history in 2026, playing in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Rio de Janeiro, the league said Thursday.
This will be the third straight year the NFL will have a regular-season game in Brazil, with the first two played in Sao Paulo.
It will be the Cowboys’ first international game as the home team and their first international game overall since 2014, when they beat the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London.
With nine home games on the schedule, the Cowboys were willing to forgo a date at AT&T Stadium, per league rules. The game in Rio will be played at historic Maracana Stadium, which holds more than 70,000 and was the site of the 1950 and 2014 World Cup finals in soccer, as well as the opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympics.
The Cowboys have played preseason games in Tokyo, Toronto, Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico. Although owner and general manager Jerry Jones said his preference was to play a 2026 game in Mexico City, the NFL was hoping the Cowboys would play the first game in Rio.
The Cowboys were a candidate to play the Rams in Melbourne, but Los Angeles opted to protect that game for SoFi Stadium and instead will face the San Francisco 49ers in Australia, as announced earlier Thursday.
The date and opponent for the Cowboys’ game in Rio will be released in the spring. Aside from the NFC East foes, the Cowboys have home games scheduled against the Arizona Cardinals, Jaguars, 49ers, Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baltimore Ravens.
There will be a record nine international games in 2026. Paris, Munich, Madrid and London (three) also will serve as host cities to go along with Rio, Mexico City and Melbourne.
