List of National Football League games played outside the United States

Six games held in Canada between 1950 and 1961 pitted NFL teams against Canadian Football League (CFL) (or precursor) teams with the NFL team winning all six. These games were a hybrid of American and Canadian football. Ottawa hosted the first two games, while Toronto hosted three of the remaining four and Montreal held one; the first game ever held in Toronto featuring an NFL team was in August 1959 and inaugurated the city's Exhibition Stadium. One game was played between the AFL's Buffalo Bills and CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats in August 1961, with Hamilton winning 38–21. There was also a game in 1960 that pitted the Chicago Bears against the New York Giants played in Toronto; this was in return for a 1958 CFL matchup that was played in Philadelphia.

The Western Interprovincial Football Union (later the Western Conference of the CFL) was never involved in interleague play with the NFL, although its teams occasionally played members of other rival U.S. leagues in the circuit's early years. At the time, the Western teams were still struggling to gain recognition within Canada as the Eastern Conference's competitive equal. A more practical factor inhibiting Western interleague play with the NFL was the prohibitive amount of time it would have taken to travel by rail from an NFL city to Western Canada for an exhibition game (the CFL did not even implement regular season interconference play until air travel came to be seen as a safe means of transport in the 1960s). Also, by the 1950s the West was already playing its regular season in August while the Eastern Conference still started its season around the same time as the NFL.

In the summer of 1983 an English entrepreneur named John Marshall hired Wembley Stadium and brought the Minnesota Vikings and St. Louis Cardinals over to play a pre-season exhibition game called The Global Cup. Just over 30,000 fans turned out that day to witness the game. In 1984, Marshall invited the United States Football League's Tampa Bay Bandits and Philadelphia Stars to play a post season exhibition game in July.

The American Bowl was a series of NFL pre-season exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States between 1986 and 2005. The league started the American Bowl series in 1986 primarily to promote American football in other countries. The American Bowl was a fifth pre-season game, played the same weekend as the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, and did not take away a game from the participating teams' pre-season schedules. At least one American Bowl game was played annually from 1986 to 2003. As many as four were played per year in the early 1990s. There was no American Bowl game played in 2004. The last American Bowl was held in 2005. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell cited the league's new international strategy in the abandonment of international pre-season games as well as the closure of NFL Europe, instead focusing on playing regular season games in foreign countries. There have been three international pre-season games during the American Bowl era that did not receive the American Bowl name because they were not arranged by the NFL but, rather, the scheduled home team elected to play there.

The China Bowl was the name of a proposed NFL pre-season exhibition game that had been scheduled to take place in August 2007, but later postponed to August 2009 so that more focus could be placed on the start of the International Series,[1][2] and ultimately canceled, between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at the National Stadium in Beijing.[3] The originally scheduled China Bowl was to be played at Workers Stadium in Beijing, China, on August 8, 2007. The game was to kick off the one-year countdown before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and would have been the first NFL-sanctioned game to take place in China.[4]

In March 2019, NFL was reportedly discuss at owners meetings whether it will play a game in China in 2020 season. San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams were among the teams interested due to situating West Coast for less travel. It would take place prior to the start of the regular season for the rest of the league in order to make up for the intense travel and time difference. Suitable venue and air quality were other concerns.[5]

On October 2, 2005, the Arizona Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 31–14 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, under the name NFL Fútbol Americano. It was the first regular season NFL game held outside of the United States.[6] The game drew the NFL's highest game attendance at the time with 103,467 spectators.[6][7]

Beginning with the 2007 season, the National Football League has hosted regular season American football games outside of the United States every year in a series known as the International Series. Wembley Stadium, in London, United Kingdom, was the first location to host the series, staging at least one game every year since the series began.

In October 2015 the league announced that a resolution had been passed approving continuing the International Series until 2025, and expanding it to include games in international cities outside the United Kingdom.[8] The NFL has an agreement to play at least two games per year at Wembley until 2020, with the Jacksonville Jaguars relocating a home game there annually throughout the agreement.[9] In addition, three to five games are scheduled to take place at England rugby's Twickenham Stadium between 2016 and 2018,[10] while at least two games per year are planned to be played at the new stadium at Northumberland Development Project between 2018 and 2027 as part of an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur.[11]

Additional markets under consideration included Mexico, Germany and Canada.[12] On February 5, 2016, it was announced that the Oakland Raiders would host the Houston Texans on November 21, 2016, at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico.[13] On November 19, 2017, the Estadio Azteca hosted a regular season Sunday afternoon game between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders and on November 18th, 2019, the Los Angeles Chargers were the designated home team against the Kansas City Chiefs in Mexico.

The Bills Toronto Series was an agreement between the Buffalo Bills and Rogers Communications to host a series of Bills National Football League games at the Rogers Centre in nearby Toronto, Ontario, Canada in an attempt by the team to broaden its fan base. The Bills Toronto Series was distinct from the NFL International Series because it is arranged by an individual team rather than the league.

The series was conceived by a group that included then Bills owner Ralph Wilson, Ted Rogers of Rogers Communications and Larry Tanenbaum of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.[14] During the original five-year deal, which began with the 2008 season, the Bills played one regular season home game per year as well as a pre-season home game at Rogers Centre in 2008 and 2010, for a total of seven games in Toronto.[15] A pre-season game originally planned for 2012 was cancelled, as home games for the Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Argonauts[16] and a Bruce Springsteen concert[17] conflicted with the NFL pre-season. In 2013, the series was renewed for five more years through 2017. The new deal featured one regular season game each year plus a pre-season game in 2015.[18][19] However, following the first contest in 2013 it was announced that Rogers and the Bills had postponed the series for a year,[20] and several months later, following the sale of the Bills to new ownership, the parties reached an agreement to cancel the Toronto Series permanently.[21]

Teams that have had the scheduling disadvantage of giving up a home game to participate in the series, resulting in seven home games, eight away games and one neutral site game, have seen a significant disparity in their success relative to the designated visitors, who end up with eight home games, seven away games and one neutral site game. For the 18 regular season games played outside the United States through 2015, 20 of the 21 designated home teams failed to reach the playoffs while 11 of the 21 designated visitors reached the postseason that year. In 2015, the Kansas City Chiefs became the first designated home team to go on to reach the playoffs.[22]

Below is a list of games played outside the United States by teams from the NFL, and its precursor leagues the American Football League of 1926 (AFL 1926), All-America Football Conference (AAFC), and American Football League (AFL) from which the NFL absorbed teams.[23][24][25]

Legend

Season	Date	Series	Type	Winning/Tied Team	Score	Losing/Tied Team	Stadium	City	Country	Ref
											1926	November 8	–	REG	New York Yankees (AFL 1926)	28–0	Los Angeles Wildcats (AFL 1926)	Maple Leaf Stadium	Toronto	Canada	[26]
1948	August 19	CFL	INT	Brooklyn Dodgers (AAFC)	27–1	Montreal Alouettes (CFL)	Delorimier Stadium	Montreal	Canada	[27][28][29]
1950	August 12	CFL	INT	New York Giants	27–6	Ottawa Rough Riders (CFL)	Lansdowne Park	Ottawa	Canada	[30]
1951	August 11	CFL	INT	New York Giants	41–18	Ottawa Rough Riders (CFL)	Lansdowne Park	Ottawa	Canada	[31]
1959	August 5	CFL	INT	Chicago Cardinals	55–26	Toronto Argonauts (CFL)	Exhibition Stadium	Toronto	Canada
1960	August 3	CFL	INT	Pittsburgh Steelers	43–16	Toronto Argonauts (CFL)	Exhibition Stadium	Toronto	Canada
	August 15	–	EXH	Chicago Bears	16–7	New York Giants	Varsity Stadium	Toronto	Canada
	August 29	–	EXH	Dallas Cowboys	Cancelled	New York Giants	Delorimier Stadium	Montreal	Canada	[32][33][34]
1961	August 2	CFL	INT	St. Louis Cardinals	36–7	Toronto Argonauts (CFL)	Exhibition Stadium	Toronto	Canada
	August 5	CFL	INT	Chicago Bears	34–16	Montreal Alouettes (CFL)	Molson Stadium	Montreal	Canada	[35]
	August 8	CFL	INT	Hamilton Tiger-Cats (CFL)	38–21	Buffalo Bills (AFL)	Civic Stadium	Hamilton	Canada
1968	August 11	–	EXH	Detroit Lions	Cancelled	Philadelphia Eagles	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico	[36]
1969	August 25	–	INT	Detroit Lions	22–9	Boston Patriots (AFL)	Jarry Park	Montreal	Canada	[37][38]
	September 11	–	EXH	Pittsburgh Steelers	17–13	New York Giants	Jarry Park	Montreal	Canada	[37]
1976	August 16	MSB	EXH	St. Louis Cardinals	20–10	San Diego Chargers	Korakuen Stadium	Tokyo	Japan	[39][40]
1978	August 5	–	EXH	New Orleans Saints	14–7	Philadelphia Eagles	Estadio Olímpico de la Ciudad de los Deportes	Mexico City	Mexico	[41]
1983	August 6	GC	EXH	Minnesota Vikings	28–10	St. Louis Cardinals	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom	[42]
1986	August 3	AB	EXH	Chicago Bears	17–6	Dallas Cowboys	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
1987	August 9	AB	EXH	Los Angeles Rams	28–27	Denver Broncos	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
1988	July 31	AB	EXH	Miami Dolphins	27–21	San Francisco 49ers	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	August 14	VAFC	EXH	Minnesota Vikings	28–21	Chicago Bears	Ullevi Stadium	Göteborg	Sweden	[43][44]
	August 18	MC	EXH	New York Jets	11–7	Cleveland Browns	Olympic Stadium	Montreal	Canada	[45][46]
	August 27	–	EXH	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Cancelled	Buffalo Bills	Exhibition Stadium	Toronto	Canada	[47]
1989	August 6	AB	EXH	Los Angeles Rams	16–13 (OT)	San Francisco 49ers	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
	August 6	AB	EXH	Philadelphia Eagles	17–13	Cleveland Browns	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
1990	August 5	AB	EXH	Denver Broncos	10–7	Seattle Seahawks	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48][49]
	August 5	AB	EXH	New Orleans Saints	17–10	Los Angeles Raiders	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	August 9	AB	EXH	Pittsburgh Steelers	30–14	New England Patriots	Olympic Stadium	Montreal	Canada
	August 11	AB	EXH	Los Angeles Rams	19–3	Kansas City Chiefs	Olympiastadion	West Berlin	West Germany
1991	July 28	AB	EXH	Buffalo Bills	17–13	Philadelphia Eagles	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	August 3	AB	EXH	San Francisco 49ers	21–7	Chicago Bears	Olympiastadion	Berlin	Germany
	August 4	AB	EXH	Miami Dolphins	19–17	Los Angeles Raiders	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
1992	August 2	AB	EXH	Houston Oilers	34–23	Dallas Cowboys	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
	August 15	AB	EXH	Miami Dolphins	31–27	Denver Broncos	Olympiastadion	Berlin	Germany
	August 16	AB	EXH	San Francisco 49ers	17–15	Washington Redskins	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
1993	August 1	AB	EXH	New Orleans Saints	28–16	Philadelphia Eagles	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
	August 1	AB	EXH	San Francisco 49ers	21–14	Pittsburgh Steelers	Estadi Olímpic	Barcelona	Spain
	August 7	AB	EXH	Minnesota Vikings	20–6	Buffalo Bills	Olympiastadion	Berlin	Germany
	August 8	AB	EXH	Dallas Cowboys	13–13 (OT)	Detroit Lions	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	August 14	–	EXH	Cleveland Browns	12–9	New England Patriots	SkyDome	Toronto	Canada
1994	July 31	AB	EXH	Los Angeles Raiders	25–22 (OT)	Denver Broncos	Estadi Olímpic	Barcelona	Spain
	August 7	AB	EXH	Minnesota Vikings	17–9	Kansas City Chiefs	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
	August 13	AB	EXH	New York Giants	28–20	San Diego Chargers	Olympiastadion	Berlin	Germany
	August 15	AB	EXH	Houston Oilers	6–0	Dallas Cowboys	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico
1995	August 6	AB	EXH	Denver Broncos	24–10	San Francisco 49ers	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
	August 12	AB	EXH	Buffalo Bills	9–7	Dallas Cowboys	SkyDome	Toronto	Canada
1996	July 28	AB	EXH	San Diego Chargers	20–10	Pittsburgh Steelers	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
	August 5	AB	EXH	Kansas City Chiefs	32–6	Dallas Cowboys	Estadio Universitario	Monterrey	Mexico
1997	July 27	AB	EXH	Pittsburgh Steelers	30–17	Chicago Bears	Croke Park	Dublin	Ireland
	August 4	AB	EXH	Miami Dolphins	38–19	Denver Broncos	Estadio Guillermo Cañedo	Mexico City	Mexico
	August 16	AB	EXH	Green Bay Packers	35–3	Buffalo Bills	SkyDome	Toronto	Canada
1998	August 2	AB	EXH	Green Bay Packers	27–24 (OT)	Kansas City Chiefs	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
	August 15	AB	EXH	San Francisco 49ers	24–21	Seattle Seahawks	BC Place Stadium	Vancouver	Canada
	August 17	AB	EXH	New England Patriots	21–3	Dallas Cowboys	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico
1999	August 8	AB	EXH	Denver Broncos	20–17	San Diego Chargers	Stadium Australia	Sydney	Australia
2000	August 6	AB	EXH	Atlanta Falcons	20–9	Dallas Cowboys	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
	August 19	AB	EXH	Indianapolis Colts	24–23	Pittsburgh Steelers	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico
2001	August 27	AB	EXH	Dallas Cowboys	21–6	Oakland Raiders	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico
2002	August 3	AB	EXH	Washington Redskins	38–7	San Francisco 49ers	Osaka Dome	Osaka	Japan	[48]
2003	August 2	AB	EXH	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	30–14	New York Jets	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan
2005	August 6	AB	EXH	Atlanta Falcons	27–21	Indianapolis Colts	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo	Japan	[48]
	October 2	FA	REG	Arizona Cardinals	31–14	San Francisco 49ers	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico
2007	August 8	CB	EXH	Seattle Seahawks	Cancelled	New England Patriots	Workers' Stadium	Beijing	China
	October 28	IS	REG	New York Giants	13–10	Miami Dolphins	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
2008	August 14	BTS	EXH	Buffalo Bills	24–21	Pittsburgh Steelers	Rogers Centre	Toronto	Canada	[50]
	October 26	IS	REG	New Orleans Saints	37–32	San Diego Chargers	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	December 7	BTS	REG	Miami Dolphins	16–3	Buffalo Bills	Rogers Centre	Toronto	Canada	[51]
2009	October 25	IS	REG	New England Patriots	35–7	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	December 3	BTS	REG	New York Jets	19–13	Buffalo Bills	Rogers Centre	Toronto	Canada	[52]
2010	August 19	BTS	EXH	Buffalo Bills	34–21	Indianapolis Colts	Rogers Centre	Toronto	Canada	[53]
	October 31	IS	REG	San Francisco 49ers	24–16	Denver Broncos	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	November 7	BTS	REG	Chicago Bears	22–19	Buffalo Bills	Rogers Centre	Toronto	Canada	[54]
2011	October 23	IS	REG	Chicago Bears	24–18	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 30	BTS	REG	Buffalo Bills	23–0	Washington Redskins	Rogers Centre	Toronto	Canada	[55]
2012	October 28	IS	REG	New England Patriots	45–7	St. Louis Rams	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	December 16	BTS	REG	Seattle Seahawks	50–17	Buffalo Bills	Rogers Centre	Toronto	Canada	[56]
2013	September 29	IS	REG	Minnesota Vikings	34–27	Pittsburgh Steelers	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 27	IS	REG	San Francisco 49ers	42–10	Jacksonville Jaguars	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom	[57]
	December 1	BTS	REG	Atlanta Falcons	34–31 (OT)	Buffalo Bills	Rogers Centre	Toronto	Canada	[58]
2014	September 28	IS	REG	Miami Dolphins	38–14	Oakland Raiders	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 26	IS	REG	Detroit Lions	22–21	Atlanta Falcons	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom	[59]
	November 9	IS	REG	Dallas Cowboys	31–17	Jacksonville Jaguars	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom	[60]
2015	October 4	IS	REG	New York Jets	27–14	Miami Dolphins	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 25	IS	REG	Jacksonville Jaguars	34–31	Buffalo Bills	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	November 1	IS	REG	Kansas City Chiefs	45–10	Detroit Lions	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom	[61]
2016	October 2	IS	REG	Jacksonville Jaguars	30–27	Indianapolis Colts	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 23	IS	REG	New York Giants	17–10	Los Angeles Rams	Twickenham Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 30	IS	REG	Washington Redskins	27–27 (OT)	Cincinnati Bengals	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	November 21	IS	REG	Oakland Raiders	27–20	Houston Texans	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico
2017	September 24	IS	REG	Jacksonville Jaguars	44–7	Baltimore Ravens	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 1	IS	REG	New Orleans Saints	20–0	Miami Dolphins	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 22	IS	REG	Los Angeles Rams	33–0	Arizona Cardinals	Twickenham Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 29	IS	REG	Minnesota Vikings	33–16	Cleveland Browns	Twickenham Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	November 19	IS	REG	New England Patriots	33–8	Oakland Raiders	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico
2018	October 14	IS	REG	Seattle Seahawks	27–3	Oakland Raiders	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 21	IS	REG	Los Angeles Chargers	20–19	Tennessee Titans	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 28	IS	REG	Philadelphia Eagles	24–18	Jacksonville Jaguars	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	November 19	IS	REG	Los Angeles Rams	Relocated to LA	Kansas City Chiefs	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico	[62]
2019	August 23	−	EXH	Green Bay Packers	21–22	Oakland Raiders	Investors Group Field	Winnipeg	Canada	[63]
	October 6	IS	REG	Oakland Raiders	24-21	Chicago Bears	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	London	United Kingdom	[64]
	October 13	IS	REG	Carolina Panthers	37-26	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	October 27	IS	REG	Cincinnati Bengals	10-24	Los Angeles Rams	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	November 3	IS	REG	Houston Texans	26-3	Jacksonville Jaguars	Wembley Stadium	London	United Kingdom
	November 18	IS	REG	Kansas City Chiefs	24-17	Los Angeles Chargers	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City	Mexico

Number of games by city

City	Country	NFL							Predecessor leagues				TOT
		REG	EXH	TOT		INT	TOT		REG	INT	TOT		TOT
Barcelona	Spain	0	2	2		0	2		0	0	0		2
Berlin[Note 1]	Germany	0	5	5		0	5		0	0	0		5
Dublin	Ireland	0	1	1		0	1		0	0	0		1
Göteborg	Sweden	0	1	1		0	1		0	0	0		1
Hamilton	Canada	0	0	0		0	0		0	1	1		1
London	United Kingdom	28	9	37		0	37		0	0	0		37
Mexico City	Mexico	4	6	10		0	10		0	0	0		10
Monterrey	Mexico	0	1	1		0	1		0	0	0		1
Montreal	Canada	0	3	3		2	5		0	1	1		6
Osaka	Japan	0	1	1		0	1		0	0	0		1
Ottawa	Canada	0	0	0		2	2		0	0	0		2
Sydney	Australia	0	1	1		0	1		0	0	0		1
Tokyo	Japan	0	13	13		0	13		0	0	0		13
Toronto	Canada	6	6	12		3	15		1	0	1		16
Vancouver	Canada	0	1	1		0	1		0	0	0		1
Winnipeg	Canada	0	1	1		0	1		0	0	0		1

Notes

1. Includes one game played in West Berlin, West Germany prior to German reunification.

• List of college football games played outside the United States