Twenty-five days after mid-October, the NFL’s second straight Madrid regular-season game lands Sunday, November 8, when the Cincinnati Bengals face the Atlanta Falcons at Bernabéu Stadium — home of Real Madrid C.F.
Kickoff is 9:30 a.m. Eastern / 3:30 p.m. Madrid time in Week 9. The Falcons are the designated home club. The date sits two weeks after the league’s first France game (Steelers–Saints at Stade de France on October 25) and one week before Patriots–Lions in Munich.
Why Madrid sits on this calendar
The 2026 international slate is the league’s largest yet: nine games across Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City. Madrid returns for a second consecutive year under a multiyear partnership with the City of Madrid, the Community of Madrid and Real Madrid. The first Bernabéu regular-season game, Dolphins–Commanders in November 2025, set the Spanish-market template this rematch builds on.
Peter O’Reilly, the league’s executive vice president for club business, major events and international, framed the full overseas map in May as the most expansive international season to date. Rafa de los Santos, the league’s Spain country manager, has repeatedly tied the Bernabéu return to year-round fan growth in Spain ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup window that also touches Atlanta.
What is already locked
Matchup, venue and Eastern kickoff are published. National U.S. carriage for the Madrid window runs on the league’s cable network and the league’s streaming product; local and Spanish free-to-air and subscription windows were listed on the Bengals’ Madrid hub when tickets and travel packages opened over the summer. Gate timing at Bernabéu typically opens about 90 minutes before kickoff; the venue is smoke-free.
After Madrid, the European road continues with New England at Detroit in Munich on November 15 (FC Bayern Munich Arena), then Minnesota at San Francisco in Mexico City on November 22 (Estadio Banorte) to close the 2026 international slate.
What this article is not
Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Bijan Robinson and the rest of both depth charts will shift through the next three practice weeks. This piece is the Madrid event countdown and calendar framing — not a Week 9 injury report or betting preview.
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