The rumors were confirmed on Wednesday morning with the NFL announcing the LA Chargers as the designated home team for the Brazil game in 2025. Last season, the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles played in the league's first-ever Brazil game in Week 1.
The Chargers have not played an international game since 2019 and were certainly due to play overseas. Like last year, the Brazil game will happen in Week 1, with the Chargers playing on Friday to give themselves more time to return to the United States.
Los Angeles will serve as the designated home team at Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo. This is the same stadium that played host to the NFL's Brazil game last season and had controversy about the playing surface.
The NFL has not yet announced who the Chargers will play in the Brazil game but there is historical evidence that narrows the list down to an obvious opponent.
Houston Texans are the most likely Brazil opponent for the LA Chargers
Nothing is confirmed as of yet but of out of every team that the Chargers host in 2025, the Texans by far make the most sense. The Chargers will host the following nine teams in 2025:
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Las Vegas Raiders
- Denver Broncos
- Washington Commanders
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Indianapolis Colts
- Houston Texans
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Minnesota Vikings
Two teams can instantly be crossed off right off the bat. The Indianapolis Colts are scheduled to play in Germany and the Pittsburgh Steelers are scheduled to play in Dublin. The NFL won't make those teams play in Brazil, so they are off the list.
It is also safe to assume the Chargers won't play a division opponent in Brazil. While not completely unheard of for an international game, the NFL has not scheduled a single division matchup in the Germany series. If the Brazil series follows suit, then we can cross off the Chiefs, Broncos and Raiders.
The NFL has also followed a trend with the teams its sends to Germany and Brazil. Every single team that has played in the Germany or Brazil game (home or away) has had nine home games and eight road games on their schedule. That eliminates the Eagles (who likely weren't going to play in Brazil a second year in a row, anyway) and the Commanders.
Two teams are left standing as potential candidates to play the Chargers in Brazil: the Minnesota Vikings and the Houston Texans.
Minnesota played a game in England last season while the Texans have not played an international game since 2019. Outside of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who play in London every season, the NFL typically does not schedule teams to play internationally two years in a row. No team that has played in England has had to play in Germany the following year.
That leaves the Texans as the last team standing and it's a fairly easy matchup for the league to sell to the international audience.
This is a playoff rematch between two of the best young quarterbacks in the sport. The Chargers and Texans may not have the largest fanbases in the sport to travel internationally but that won't matter when the game is that easy to sell.