What's next for NFL as latest international games confirmed?

The NFL's bid to capture the attention of the world's sports fans appears to know no bounds.

America's biggest sports league had already confirmed it will make its debut at two of the world's most iconic stadiums next season - Rio de Janeiro's Maracana and the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Then on Thursday, it used its biggest week of the year to announce that two of its most iconic franchises will be playing there.

With most activities for Super Bowl week being held in San Francisco, Thursday's news that the 49ers will be heading to Australia created a buzz in 'The City'.

Then a few hours later it was revealed that the Dallas Cowboys - known as 'America's Team' - will head to Brazil for the NFL's first game in Rio.

"Introducing one of the league's most iconic teams to the Maracana Stadium marks a powerful milestone in the continued growth of the sport worldwide," said Luis Martinez, general manager of NFL Brazil.

The Cowboys' opponent and date for the game are yet to be confirmed. The 49ers will face the Los Angeles Rams, with the game expected to take place near the start of the season in September.

NFL executives have repeatedly mentioned the league's desire to become a "true global sport property" and they will stage a record nine international games in 2026 - across four continents, seven countries and eight stadiums.

The NFL's international presence has expanded dramatically over the past couple of years.

Five international games during the 2024 season increased to seven in 2025, and nine will be played abroad in 2026.

That has included expanding into Brazil, Spain and Ireland, with Australia and France new territories for 2026, when there will also be a return to Mexico.

Next season there will be games in London (three), Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Munich, Paris and Rio.

"We're in several new markets, we're excited by that," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell this week.

"It's the ambition that we have to be a global sport, but it's also the demand that we're having. We're hearing from cities all over the world that want to host these games and they really want to get more American football."

Goodell has mentioned venturing into Asia while Abu Dhabi is one of the cities where the NFL has conducted a site visit to examine the possibility of playing a game there.

This week he reiterated that his ultimate goal is to play 16 international games each season, meaning each of the NFL's 32 teams would play overseas once a year.

"I think that's an important mark for us to go for, and I think we're well on our way," Goodell added.

Two west coast teams were expected to make the journey for the NFL's first game in Australia, to minimise the impact of travel.

And the Rams have been handed an encounter with divisional rivals the 49ers, who have also been regular Super Bowl contenders in recent years, so it makes for an appealing match-up.

After being named this season's Most Valuable Player in San Francisco on Thursday, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said: "It seems like a long flight, and I hope my back's not too sore afterwards, to be honest with you.

"But I am excited about it, it's a really cool opportunity. Playing an unbelievable team like the 49ers is going to be a huge challenge. It's a fun rivalry so I think the fans in Australia are going to get a great game."

David White, interim executive director of the NFL Players' Association (NFLPA) said this week: "Our members appreciate the global stage. They understand the excitement that the games are generating around the world.

"But we've got a lot of feedback about not having good experiences because it's inconsistent. It's a seemingly arbitrary approach that clubs take to travel."

Before this season's game at Wembley, for example, the Jacksonville Jaguars flew out to London early in the week, while the Rams arrived the day before the game and returned to LA immediately after their 35-7 win.

"Some teams will stay near the practice site, some will have lengthy commutes for the players after that travel, when they're getting over jet leg," said White. "It depends which team they play for, so it's the lack of standardisation that feels arbitrary.

"The game requires a certain amount of rest, preparation and restoration in order for players to be safe, so all of that needs to be accounted for if we're going to talk about [travelling] even further away or having more international games. That's a matter of negotiation."

The NFL's current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the NFLPA allows up to 10 regular-season games to held overseas per season.

The Minnesota Vikings became the first team to have two international games in the same season in 2025, playing in Dublin and London on successive Sundays, and linebacker Jonathan Greenard said he "would not like to do back-to-back [again]".

But White said players gave a "good deal of positive feedback because of the way they went about it. That is the trick."

He added: "It is possible that 16 games worldwide gets to be too much, but that's for the players to decide once they have all the information.

"We do have some sense of what makes a positive experience when travelling internationally, and we're collecting data.

"It's about making sure that the players are at the centre of that debate."