Report: Dallas Cowboys to play 2026 game in Rio de Janeiro

The Dallas Cowboys are reportedly going to play in Rio de Janeiro in 2026.

The report comes from Jonathan Jones of CBS as the NFL has been spending Super Bowl week announcing all of its international intentions next season. Notably the NFL will play in Australia and Paris in 2026, and they will also break ground in Rio de Janeiro specifically. It appears the Cowboys will be the ones doing so.

To be clear, the NFL has played games in Brazil before, but they took place in São Paulo. Getting a game in Rio de Janeiro specifically is a different thing and the Cowboys are one of the league’s biggest draws so it would seem that the NFL cares deeply about this. For what it’s worth, those games were the season opener given the travel involved so it stands to reason that Dallas will be in Rio de Janeiro in Week 1.

Earlier this week there was chatter about the Cowboys playing a game in Mexico, but several insiders noted that an international game definitely seemed to be inevitable, but that Mexico did not exactly feel likely. This report appears to answer all of that.