The National Football League’s tentacles in the streaming space keep extending, as the league announced that YouTube will exclusively stream the first international football matchup of the 2025 season, from Brazil.
The week one game will take place in São Paulo Friday, Sept. 5, and it will be streamed live to YouTube’s global audience for free.
The Los Angeles Chargers will be the designated home team for this game, with an opponent set to be announced Wednesday, May 14, when the NFL reveals its full 2025 schedule at 8 p.m. ET on its various media platforms, including NFL Network, NFL.com, the NFL application, and NFL+.
“We are excited to expand our relationship with YouTube to bring this year’s Brazil game to a worldwide audience,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution, in a statement. “YouTube and YouTube TV have been incredible partners of the NFL for several years and boast an immense global reach, and we look forward to week one in São Paulo.”
This is the second consecutive year that the NFL will play in Brazil. Last year, the current Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, played against the Green Bay Packers, also in São Paulo, in the first-ever NFL game in South America.
The site for both games is the Arena Corinthians, home to the SC Corinthians soccer team, and last year’s game averaged 14.2 million total U.S. viewers, exclusively streamed on Peacock.
The NFL and YouTube already have a working relationship, as YouTubeTV has been home to the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market package since 2023.
In addition to the NFL game, YouTube and the league have agreed on a multiyear deal for the annual Super Bowl Flag Football game featuring creators and musical artists, with additional international flag football games.
This flag football announcement comes as flag football will be part of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
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