Cowboys to play in NFL’s first game in Rio de Janeiro

dallas cowboys They will make history in 2026 by playing in the NFL’s first regular season game in Rio de Janeiro, the league said Thursday.

This will be the third consecutive year the NFL will play regular season games in Brazil; The first two were played in São Paulo.

This will be the Cowboys’ first international game as the home team and their first international game overall since 2014, when they defeated jacksonville jaguars At Wembley Stadium in London.

With nine home games on the schedule, the Cowboys were willing to give up a date at AT&T Stadium per league rules. The game in Rio will be played at the historic Maracana Stadium, which holds more than 70,000 spectators and was the venue of the 1950 and 2014 World Cup finals in football as well as the opening ceremony of 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 the 2026 game in Mexico City, the NFL was hoping the Cowboys would play the first game in Rio.

was a candidate to play cowboys rams in Melbourne, but Los Angeles opted to reserve that game for SoFi Stadium and will instead face 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. In addition to NFC East foes, home games against the Cowboys are scheduled Arizona CardinalsJaguars, 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) will also serve as host cities, along with Rio, Mexico City and Melbourne.