Chargers to open 2025 NFL season in Sao Paulo in league's return to Brazil

Sam Farmer and Thuc Nhi Nguyen, Los Angeles Times on Feb 19, 2025

Published in Football

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LOS ANGELES — The Chargers will open Year 2 of the Jim Harbaugh era in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the NFL announced Wednesday, giving the team their first international game since 2019 in the league’s second regular-season game played in South America.

Following last year’s Sao Paulo game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers that started the Super Bowl path for the eventual champion Eagles, the Chargers will open their season on Friday, Sept. 5, at Arena Corinthians, the venue that hosted last year’s historic NFL game, the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

The Chargers will become the NFL’s first franchise to play games on five continents, having played their first international game nearly 50 years ago. In 1976, they faced the then-St. Louis Cardinals in the preseason Mainichi Star Bowl in Tokyo. They later played preseason games in Berlin, Germany, and Sydney, Australia, with regular-season contests in London and Mexico City.

“It’s an honor to once again represent the NFL on an international stage,” Chargers president of business operations A.G. Spanos said in a statement. “It’s also a tremendous opportunity to help grow the game and bring the Chargers brand to millions of sports fans across Brazil and Latin America.”

The opponent will be announced in the spring during the leaguewide schedule release. The Chargers, coming off a surprising 11-6 regular-season record and wild-card appearance in the first year under Harbaugh, will have home games in 2025 against Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Houston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh and Minnesota.

The NFL has vastly expanded its international footprint in the past two decades and will continue to do so with seven international games in 2025. In addition to three games in London — where the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets will host games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium — the Indianapolis Colts will play a game in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium; the Miami Dolphins will host in Madrid, Spain, and the Pittsburgh Steelers will play the NFL’s first regular-season game in Dublin, Ireland.

In 2026, the Rams will host a game in Melbourne, Australia, likely their opener.

During his Super Bowl week news conference, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he could envision playing 16 games per season outside the U.S. borders.

“We do think that 16 is something that is realistic,” Goodell said. “We’re looking to try to get to eight games this year. We may fall short of that, but we think we’ll get close to that. But I see that continuing to progress, and giving people a chance to really experience our game firsthand.”