The National Football League announced earlier today that the Miami Dolphins will host the first regular-season NFL game to be played in Spain as part of the league's slate of international games next season. The Dolphins will be the designated "home" team in the game set to take place at the iconic Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of the Spanish soccer powerhouse Real Madrid C.F.
"We are thrilled to play the NFL's inaugural game in Spain, a country of rich history, tradition and passion and home to a vibrant Dolphins fanbase," Tom Garfinkel, the Dolphins' vice chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement.
"There is a hunger for football in this market, and we are proud to join with the NFL in growing the game internationally while engaging with old and new fans alike. With the unique synergy between Miami and Madrid, we believe this is only the beginning for us in this incredible region, and we look forward to bringing the excitement and community of Dolphins football to Spain in 2025 and beyond."
The Dolphins' opponent in the matchup won't be announced until spring.
The Dolphins are a favored team internationally, thanks to dominant back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1972 and 1973 and subsequent easy-on-the-eyes fun-and-gun aerial assault days of Dan Marino's 1983-2000 career. As one might expect, being one of the league's top teams while the NFL was growing from a niche product to a sports league that owns a day of the week tends to garner some eyeballs, which explains why the NFL's upcoming Spain game marks the team's eighth regular-season international game and fourth in a new country, following previous international games in Germany (2023), the United Kingdom (2021, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2007) and Canada (2008).DE MIAMI A MADRID.
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) January 17, 2025
Catch us in España in 2025 😎 pic.twitter.com/HDaSElraqh
Acto de presentación del partido de la NFL que se disputará en el Santiago Bernabéu.#RealMadrid
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) January 17, 2025
Who, What, and When
For those of you hoping to get out in front of the opponent the Dolphins may face in Madrid, well, we can narrow it down to the following teams Miami is set to face at "home:" New England Patriots, New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Philadelphia Eagles. Our money is on the Chiefs (possible threepeat champions by then) or the Patriots because, well, 'Merica.Seeing as how the NFL matched the Eagles against the Green Bay Packers in São Paulo, Brazil, in a standalone Week 1 game to open the 2024-25 regular season, we'll also hazard a guess that the Dolphins might open the entire NFL season overseas next year. The date and time of the game, and, of course, the opponent, will all be unveiled when the entire NFL schedule is released in the lead-up to the NFL Draft in April.
In the meantime, the NFL has set up a dedicated Spanish-language landing page to provide future updates and ticket information about the Dolphins game in Madrid.
Whoever the Dolphins play, burning a home game in Europe, while fun, is already an extra order of distraction in an upcoming campaign that seems destined to be the last before yet another rebuild. Following an 8-9 season that saw the Dolphins miss the playoffs (extending their league-record postseason-free streak to 24 years, 2025 is almost assuredly do-or-die for head coach Mike McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier.
Looking for a silver-lining? Recently and extensively remodeled, Santiago Bernabéu Stadium features a retractable dome. So there is practically a zero percent chance the Dolphins play in anything but the same lukewarm conditions in which they thrive 79 percent of the time.
