Rams, 49ers to play in NFL's first game in Australia during the 2026 season

A notable chapter in the the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers' rivalry will be written next season, when the two teams take part in the first NFL game played in Australia. Specifically, Los Angeles and San Francisco will play a regular season game at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia. The specific date is yet to be determined. 

"Expanding to Melbourne, Australia, a beautiful city with a rich sports history, underlines our ambitions to become a global sport and accelerate international growth," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We look forward to making history in what is an important market for the NFL and a significant next step in expanding our international footprint."

While it's been known for a while that the Rams were headed to Australia, their opponent had not been revealed until Thursday. This will be only the 49ers' second international game over the past 13 years and their first since 2022. San Francisco did play in the NFL's first international game when they defeated the Arizona Cardinals in Mexico City back in 2005. 

"As we make history with the NFL and bring the first regular season game to Australia, we are pleased to take our annual match-up against our NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers to the MCG," Rams president Kevin Demoff said. "Since we first secured marketing rights to the country in 2021 and more recently since the announcement of this game last year, we have seen tremendous excitement for our team from fans both in Australia and also across the world. We look forward to spending this offseason continuing to deepen our connection with the Melbourne community leading up to the game this fall."

One of the NFL's better rivalries, the Rams and 49ers split their season series in 2025. Both teams posted 12-5 records during the regular season before advancing to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs. Both teams saw their seasons end at the hands of another NFC West rival in the Seattle Seahawks. The injury-depleted 49ers were soundly defeated by Seattle in the divisional round, while the Rams lost a hard-fought NFC Championship game. 

The Rams-49ers game in Australia is one of nine international games that will take place in 2026, a two-game increase from 2025. Goodell recently said his goal is to reach 16 international games per season, with every team playing at least one game abroad.

"We're getting great reactions from our teams," Goodell said during his annual Super Bowl week press conference. "They all want to play. Our players loved it. One of the greatest things from last season was talking to our players and our coaches about how proud they were to be there and talk about the game to help globalize the game. They felt like ambassadors, and they enjoyed the experience, and that's really part of it."