If spending a week (or more) in the fall in the capital of Spain sounds like a welcome idea, your Kansas City Chiefs fandom might give you an extra reason to make it happen. As it turns out, they're among the rumored oppponents for the Atlanta Falcons for an international matchup in the 2026 regular season.
The NFL continues to slow roll the announcement of international games for next season, and the Falcons were revealed as the home team for an upcoming game in Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
The Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders played the first game in Madrid in the 2025 season and drew nearly 80,000 spectators for the event. The league agreed to a multi-year contract to continue playing in Spain, which is good news for the three franchises with marketing rights in the country: the Dolphins, Chicago Bears, and Chiefs.
The Chiefs have a single opportunity to play overseas in 2026, but it's not yet clear if the NFL will send them to Madrid or not.
Because of those rights, NFL reporter Mike Garafolo says the Chiefs and Bears are the rumored teams competing to be the Falcons' opponent for the international exhibition in '26. That would give the Chiefs yet another overseas game (with the travel complications that come with it) after having played in Brazil in 2025 and Germany in 2023. The Chiefs have also played in Mexico City and London in the past decade.
It will be interesting to see which team the NFL decides to showcase on such a major stage next season, knowing that the two teams vying to play the Falcons had such disparate results in 2025. The Bears have Caleb Williams as an emerging star and are fresh off of a deep postseason run that has them aiming for that next Super Bowl step. The Chiefs, on the other hand, won only six games a year ago and are hoping to rebound to contender status.
By process of elimination, the potential showdown in Madrid against Atlanta is the only international game that Kansas City will possibly play next season. Other games have already been announced, and the spots to be determined in other areas involve opponents who aren't on the Chiefs' slate.