Chiefs to begin their 2025 NFL season in Brazil

The NFL’s global reach will continue to grow in 2025 as the league ventures into more territories than ever before.

A record seven international games will be played during the regular season, with Dublin’s Croke Park one of this year’s new venues.

The schedule for the NFL’s 2025 season was released this week and the road to Super Bowl 60 starts on Thursday, 4 September, with defending champions the Philadelphia Eagles kicking off the new campaign.

The season begins with a bang as the Kansas City Chiefs visit Brazil the following day, then host the Eagles in a Super Bowl rematch in week two.

Since 2004, the opening game of the NFL season has featured the defending champions.

The Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans in February so will host this season’s kick-off game.

They will welcome their divisional rivals the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, 4 September (01:20 BST, 5 September).

The season’s first international game will take place the following day in Sao Paulo (01:00 BST, 6 September), where the Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers last season in the first NFL game to be held in Brazil.

This time round the Los Angeles Chargers will be the designated ‘home’ team against the Chiefs, who were denied a record third straight Super Bowl win by the Eagles in February.

Football is a big part of the holidays in the US. The Detroit Lions have hosted a Thanksgiving game every year since 1934 and this season they welcome the Green Bay Packers on Thursday, 27 November (18:00 GMT).

After hosting their first Thanksgiving game in 1966, only twice have the Dallas Cowboys not played on the holiday, and this year ‘America’s Team’ face the Chiefs (21:30 GMT).

The Baltimore Ravens then complete the Thanksgiving triple-header at home to the Cincinnati Bengals (01:20 GMT, 28 November).

In 2023, the NFL played its first game on Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving – and this year the Eagles host the Chicago Bears in a game which will be broadcast on Amazon Prime (20:00 GMT).

After streaming two games on Christmas Day last season, Netflix will again feature two festive fixtures, with the Washington Commanders hosting the Cowboys (18:00 GMT) before the Minnesota Vikings welcome the Lions (21:30 GMT).

As well as returning to Sao Paulo for the opening international game of 2025, the NFL will stage regular-season games in Ireland and Spain for the first time.

Germany will have its fifth regular-season game, with Berlin playing host for the first time, and there will again be three games in London – between 5 and 19 October.

This year the Minnesota Vikings will make history by becoming the first NFL team to play in three countries in one season, as they will visit Dublin and London in back-to-back weeks.

The NFL season is spread over 18 weeks, with each team playing 17 games and having one bye week.

The regular season will end on Sunday, 4 January 2026, with the play-offs scheduled to begin on 10 January.

Super Bowl 60 will be played on 8 February 2026 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, home of the San Francisco 49ers.

It will be the second time the 68,500-capacity stadium has hosted the big game, after the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.