The Chargers will travel more air miles than any other NFL team during the 18-week 2025 regular season, an estimated 37,000, starting with a season-opening “home” game against the AFC West rival Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 5, after a 12-hour, 6,155-mile flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Back in February, the league selected the Chargers to be the host team for the second game ever played in Brazil’s Corinthians Arena. But the league didn’t formally reveal the Chargers’ opponent until Wednesday, when it announced the entire schedule for each of the 32 teams.
The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers last season in the first NFL game played in Brazil.
By agreeing to play Kansas City in Brazil, the Chargers gave up a chance to host the Chiefs at SoFi Stadium. The Chargers last played outside of the United States when they lost to the Chiefs, 24-17, at Estadio Azteca, Mexico City’s mammoth soccer stadium, on Nov. 18, 2019.
The Chargers also played regular-season games in London in 2008 and ’18, after playing the first NFL game outside of North America, when they faced the then-St. Louis Cardinals in an exhibition game in Tokyo in 1976. They also played exhibitions in Berlin, Sydney and Tokyo between 1994 and ‘99.
The Chargers-Chiefs game will be streamed on YouTube for free, a first for the NFL, which continues to expand its footprint beyond traditional television networks. The Chiefs were a natural selection to oppose the Chargers, having advanced to three straight Super Bowls, winning two.
What’s more, Kansas City is one of the NFL’s most popular teams, featuring standouts such as quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and defensive tackle Chris Jones. The Chiefs have a seven-game winning streak against quarterback Justin Herbert and the Chargers, dating to the 2021 season.
The Chargers will play five games in primetime this season. Only the Chiefs, with seven, and the Dallas Cowboys, with six, will play more. After facing the Chiefs in Brazil, the Chargers will play division rivals, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Denver Broncos, in the season’s first three weeks.
Other highlights include SoFi Stadium visits by the Super Bowl champion Eagles, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Washington Commanders and the Minnesota Vikings, games that will undoubtedly attract a huge number of transplants and bandwagon-jumping fans.
The Chargers must wait until Week 17 to get a chance to exact a payback for the Houston Texans’ 32-12 rout in an AFC wild-card game. It’ll also be a rematch of two standout quarterbacks in Herbert and the Texans’ C.J. Stroud, a Rancho Cucamonga native who directed Houston’s playoff victory.
Road games outside of the division feature a return to the site of the Chargers’ biggest playoff flop, a 31-30 come-from-ahead loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars that featured a blown 27-0 first-half lead. The rebuilding Jaguars, who missed the playoffs the past two seasons, host the Chargers in Week 11.
More to come on this story.
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