The Falcons’ opponent will be confirmed when the full season schedule is released later this year. The Falcons are expected to be the home team at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
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The Madrid match is part of a record nine international games in 2026, including new host cities in France, Australia and Brazil.
The Washington Commanders faced the Miami Dolphins in the opening game in the Spanish capital last year at the Bernabéu. The Dolphins won 16-13 in overtime before a crowd of 78,610 fans.
This summer, the Spanish soccer team will play two World Cup matches at the Falcons’ Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“We are incredibly proud to be a part of a regular-season NFL game in Madrid at the iconic Bernabéu,” Falcons president and CEO Greg Beadles said at the NFL’s announcement Tuesday. “Atlanta and Madrid are a fitting matchup as we will be hosting two of Spain’s group matches at the upcoming FIFA World Cup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.”
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It will be the Falcons’ fifth trip to Europe and fourth in six seasons. Atlanta played in Toronto in 2013, London in 2014, 2021 and 2023, and Berlin in 2025.
The NFL announced in February that it reached a multi-year agreement to continue playing regular season games at the Bernabéu. The league said Spain was “an important global market” with 11 million fans. He said he will also focus on developing the league’s flag football initiatives across the country.
The Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs and Chicago Bears have marketing rights in Spain as part of the league’s global markets program, which gives NFL teams rights in areas outside the U.S. to “build brand awareness and fandom through fan engagement, events and commercial opportunities.”
The NFL has said it plans to increase the number of international games to a point where each team can play one game abroad each year.
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The NFL says it has played 62 regular-season games outside the United States, in London, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Dublin, Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Toronto.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL