The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil.
For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians.
The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures in London, Munich, Frankfurt, Toronto and Mexico City. Spain is to host a regular-season game next year at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, home of European soccer giant Real Madrid.
Photo: AP
The NFL has said there are about 38 million American football fans in Brazil, of whom 8.3 million are described as avid. That makes Brazil the second-largest international fan base after Mexico, the league said.
The NFL has made it clear that it sees Brazil as a regular venue for games in the future, with tomorrow’s game effectively establishing a beachhead for the sport.
“The fundamental strategy is really a focus on becoming a true global sports property and growing the game and the fan base around the world,” NFL executive vice president of international events Peter O’Reilly said. “We’ve seen when we’ve gone to a market with a game like Germany a few years ago, where we’ve committed to play, you’ve seen the demand, the passion and then the impact.”
Photo: AFP
However, no other sport is likely to dethrone soccer as Brazil’s national obsession, and tomorrow’s NFL game would be competing for attention with Brazil’s 2026 World Cup qualifying game against Ecuador in Curitiba.
Yet the South American country has a long record of embracing US culture, with the NBA increasingly regarding Brazil as a key international market.
In the NFL’s case, the sport’s profile was also boosted by quarterback icon Tom Brady’s 13-year marriage to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen. However, the buzz around tomorrow’s fixture in Sao Paulo has not been shared by some of the participants, with Philadelphia players A.J. Brown and Darius Slay revealing that they had been advised not to leave the team hotel due to concerns over crime.
Slay said that while he was looking forward to the fixture, he did not want to go Brazil.
“They already told us not to leave the hotel. They told us we can’t do too much going on, because the crime rate is crazy,” Slay said. “I’m like ‘NFL, why would you want to send us somewhere with a crime rate this high?’”
Slay later apologized for the remarks, insisting he had not meant to cause offense.
“I’m looking forward to playing in your beautiful country,” he wrote on X.
In purely sporting terms, Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni would be looking for a fast start from new signing Saquon Barkley, while hoping to see his team adjust following the retirement of center Jason Kelce and defensive tackle Fletcher Cox.
Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur meanwhile would look to rising star quarterback Jordan Love to lead a young Packers team to victory.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS