2026 NFL International Schedule: 5 Quick Takeaways
By Thomas Willoughby
On Wednesday the 13th of May, the NFL released its international games schedule. Nine games across seven cities between week one and week eleven. It’s properly full on this year, and feels like a bit of a glimpse into the vision the league wants to operate overseas in the coming years. Those 18 international game seasons aren’t far away.
The international games are still special, mind, and there’s plenty to discuss coming out of the schedule announcement. With that, I’ve pulled together my five immediate takeaways from the slate. And I don’t doubt there’ll be plenty more to discuss as the rest of the league schedule is released and disected.
London enjoys best slate in years
You know the drill by now. Every year three games are announced, and every year we get to see the same arguments litigated ad nauseum online. “They’ve sent their dregs again!” some will say. “We should recognise how lucky we are to get any games!” will be the response. And back and forth it’ll go until someone inevitably insults someone’s mother, and then all bets are off. This year, however, I can find few faults with the fixtures the league has scheduled in London.
Kicking us off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 4th is Indianapolis Colts @ Washington Commanders. Both sides were in Europe last season, with the Colts hosting the Falcons in Munich, and the Commanders hosted by the Dolphins in Madrid. Indianapolis were red hot in 2025, starting the season 8-1, before losing all of their 8 post-bye fixtures, compounded by Daniel Jones tearing his achilles with four games to play. He’s back in the fold and will be ready to go in 2026. The Commanders sucked hard in 2025, but can be forgiven somewhat due to the constant rotation of injuries suffered by their own QB, Jayden Daniels. We’re not far removed from the Commanders’ 2024 NFC Championship game run, after all. If both stay fit, that could be a barnstormer.
On October 11th, the Jacksonville Jaguars begin their two-game London stay, hosting the Philadelphia Eagles. You may recall that this exact fixture was played at Wembley Stadium in 2018, and didn’t quite live up to the bill. The 2017 iterations of these teams made the AFC Championship Game, and won the Super Bowl, respectively. A year later, the Eagles took a step back, and the Jaguars imploded, resulting in a 24-18 Eagles win which was a lot closer on on the scoreboard than it was on the field. Both sides are in a good place heading into 2026, however, and should build on what were largely positive 2025’s. Plus the Eagles are massive, so that could be the one that sells out in nanoseconds.
Rounding us off, those same Jaguars will host the Houston Texans at Wembley Stadium on October 18th. An all AFC South clash, this too repeats a London fixture from years gone by, when the Houston Texans were welcomed into that very stadium and tore the Jaguars to shreds. 26-3 it was that fateful day, and these two sides’ split their series last season. The Texans’ 36-29 win over the Jaguars in week 10 kick started a 9 game win streak that carried them into the playoffs. This game could decide the fate of the division. Banger.
Excellent job, on paper. It remains to be seen if any of these teams are actually good, obviously. But, for now, credit where it’s due these are three really good games. Your mothers are safe from an insulting for a year from me.
San Fran cash in on air miles
I don’t know if you know, but the USA is a very big country. The longest distance between two teams, as far as my limited research is aware, is the 3285 miles that separates the Seattle Seahawks and the Miami Dolphins. Extensive travel isn’t new in the NFL. The International slate is expanding to 9 games in 2026, which means a lot of teams are going to be asked to do a lot more travelling than they might be used to.
The big loser on this front is the San Francisco 49ers, who will become the first team to play two nonconsecutive games internationally. In week 1, they travel to Melbourne for a Thursday morning (10.35am local time kick off!) fixture with the Los Angeles Rams. They’ll dig out their passports again in week 11, where they’ll host the Minnesota Vikings in Mexico City’s Estadio Banorte (the Azteca, to you and I). In total, they’re set to travel 38105 miles in 2026, eclipsing the Los Angeles Chargers’ 37086 in 2025.
The table CBS has put together makes for interesting reading. Seven of the top ten most travelled teams in 2026 will be playing internationally, which highlights how far from everyone else the Dolphins, Chargers, and Seahawks are. The team playing internationally with the lowest distance to contend with is the Steelers, with a very manageable 14183. In fact 8 of the sides slated to play internationally in 2026 will be in the air for less than 20000 miles in 2026, which, again, I find quite interesting.
The big winners of the travel lottery can be found in Carolina and Cleveland, of whom will travel for less than 10000 miles next season. They might even get the bus for a few games, they’re so local.
No Pack, No
On February 1st 2026, French outlet RMC reported that the New Orleans Saints would be hosting a game at the Stade de France. Their report stated the game would be on October 25th, and they would host the Cleveland Browns. The New Orleans Saints will indeed host a game at the Stade de France on October 25th, but it will not be against the Cleveland Browns. It will be against their divisional rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’ll teach you for going early with half the information, RMC. I would never.
For those who don’t know, once you’ve been selected to play a game internationally, you effectively get to block two opponents from being selected to play against. Presumably the Saints used this block on NFC South rivals, so to keep those extremely important fixtures untouched by overseas variables. What’s interesting is that the Saint may have been given a third, unofficial block.
According to NFL Ireland’s Michael McQuiad, as late as this past weekend, the Green Bay Packers were on the cards to the facing the Saints. NOLA.com writer, Jeff Duncan, corroborated this, suggesting that the Saints displeasure at the thought of playing a fixture with potential playoff tiebreaker implications was enough to make the league rethink and hand the game to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Two things. One: good on New Orleans for thinking they’ll be involved in the playoff conversation. It just goes to show that dreams are important to have, no matter how unlikely they are. Two, this feels like a direct reaction to the Steelers being blocked by the Jacksonville Jaguars from playing them at Wembley this season, something reported last last week. London’s loss is Paris’ gain, and the French capital will enjoy hosting one of the most successful teams in league history this October.
The politics of the NFL never ceases to amaze.
Modern success hits Munich
The NFL is returning to Munich, and the Detroit Lions will play the host on the 15th of November. Joining them? Only the Super Bowl runners up. The New England Patriots are heading back to Deutschland, three years after their last excursion.
This might be the pick of the bunch. The Lions’ 2025 was a cosmic mix of sublime football and stupid decisions. They’re a better side than their 9-8 record suggested, and, to this commentator, can be put down to the loss of Ben Johnson at OC more than anything. Lest we forget their 15-2 2024, and NFC Championship game run in 2023. They’ve been putting the work in as one of the teams holding marketing rights in Germany, and this will be their first opportunity to show the nation what they’re all about.
I don’t need to tell you who the Patriots are. Their near 20 year dynasty ended in 2023 after back to back losing seasons saw the Belichick era come to an end. Two years later, they’re 14-3 and back in the Super Bowl. Don’t let the scoreline of that game, or their performance in it, fool you: this is a hungry side with a young, exciting QB in Drake Maye, who’ll be looking to rubberstamp his name as the next great thing in the league. And Munich might well be the place for him to make that statement. Banger fixture.
The Vikings roadtrip rattles on
The Minnesota Vikings have been getting a lot of use from their passports recently. The Vikings will make their way to Mexico City to face the 49ers in week 11, rounding out the 2026 international slate. If you’re thinking that you’ve been seeing the Vikings a lot outside of the US recently, it’s because you have. This’ll be the third season in a row the Minnesota Vikings have played an overseas fixture, and in that time they’ll have played 4 times: vs Jets in London in 2024, @ Steelers in Dublin 2025, @ Browns in London 2025, @ 49ers in Mexico City 2026.
The Vikings have given up a single game in that stretch, but enjoyed that overseas exposure. By the end of this season, the Vikings will have played overseas 7 times in 13 seasons, which feels like a good amount for your Vikings fan outside of the US. In that time, they’ll have only given up 2 home games. And, by the end of this season, only the Jaguars will have played more overseas games than they have.
Clearly the Vikings have an eye on their growth outside of the US, and it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see them play away from the US again next year, or even give up a home game in 2027. It might be too early to refer to the Minnesota Vikings are the international team, but they’re certainly making a play for the title.
Features Image Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Thomas Willoughby
NFL ANALYST
THOMAS IS A WRITER, AND REGULAR GUEST ON THE TOUCHDOWN REVIEW SHOW PODCAST, FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. YOU CAN FIND HIM @WILLO290592 ON TWITTER