NFL announces Madrid's Bernabéu will host a 2025 regular-season game

The NFL announced that Madrid would host a regular-season game in the 2025 season, with Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu stadium as the venue. It would be the first competitive NFL game ever played in Spain. The league made the announcement in early 2024, in the days before that season's Super Bowl in Las Vegas.

The decision was part of the league's international expansion. NFL clubs had approved raising the number of games played abroad each season, and Spain was chosen as a new market alongside established ones such as London and Germany. Opponents were not named at the time, though the Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears held marketing rights in Spain.

The Bernabéu, home of the football club Real Madrid, was undergoing a major renovation that included a retractable roof and a retractable pitch system, which made it suitable for hosting American football. The announcement made Madrid a regular candidate for later NFL games in Europe, and the stadium went on to be a recurring story in the league's international series.