The NFL has named the halftime lineup for its first regular-season game in Rio de Janeiro: Ricky Martin and Rio-born DJ Pedro Sampaio, performing together at Maracanã Stadium on September 27, 2026.
The announcement is the latest piece of the league’s biggest international season to date — nine games across seven countries and four continents, including stops in London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Munich and Paris. The Rio show is the second of seven halftime performances presented by American Express this year, following the Jonas Brothers’ set at the Melbourne Game on September 10. The Baltimore Ravens will face the Dallas Cowboys at Maracanã, with kickoff set for 4:25 p.m. ET.
For a league working to build a permanent audience in Brazil, the choice of performers is as strategic as the choice of stadium.
A Stadium He Grew Up Watching From the Stands
Sampaio, born in Rio in 1997, is a DJ, singer and producer who built his sound fusing funk carioca — the bass-driven genre that emerged from Rio’s favelas in the 1980s and has become one of Brazil’s most influential musical exports — with pop and electronic production. He’s signed to Warner Music Brasil and has racked up more than 14 billion combined audio and video streams, over 10 million monthly Spotify listeners and a 2024 Latin Grammy nomination.
None of that changes the fact that stepping onto the Maracanã field will be new territory. “I grew up in Rio de Janeiro, seeing Maracanã Stadium as a place where history was made. I never imagined that my first time performing on that field would be alongside Ricky Martin, who has always been a huge inspiration to me,” Sampaio said.
A Sound That’s Already Filled Stadiums From Lisbon to Chicago
The Maracanã booking lands in the middle of Sampaio’s biggest international stretch to date. His Brazilian Chaos Tour, launched in April 2026, has taken him through 19 cities in nine countries — Spain, Mexico, the United States, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, France, Ireland and the United Kingdom — with sold-out stops in Los Angeles and a run through Chicago’s Sueños Festival. What was originally billed to close in August with shows in Argentina and Chile has since been extended into November, with new U.S. dates added in Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Chicago and New York.
The tour’s high point so far came at Rock in Rio Lisboa, where Sampaio headlined the festival’s Palco Mundo and got an estimated 100,000 people doing his signature dance move, the “cavalinho.” The moment was big enough that he announced a solo return to Portugal on the spot — a show now confirmed for July 17, 2027, at Lisbon’s Passeio Marítimo de Algés.
Ricky Martin’s Own Big Year
Martin arrives at Maracanã fresh off one of the most-watched moments of his career: a surprise appearance at Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show in February, where he sang the intro to “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii” before Bad Bunny moved into “El Apagón.” It was a reminder that, more than 25 years after “Livin’ la Vida Loca” made him one of the first Latin pop stars to break through in the U.S. mainstream, Martin remains a fixture of exactly the kind of high-visibility, culturally charged stage the NFL is building around its international games.
“Being part of another historic NFL event alongside Pedro Sampaio is incredibly exciting, especially because it brings me back to one of my favorite places in the world: Rio,” Martin said.
Why the NFL Paired Them
The booking wasn’t a random pairing of a global name with a local one. Tim Tubito, the NFL’s senior director of global game presentation, music and entertainment, said the league chose the two artists because they “each have a unique connection with fans across Brazil, Latin America and beyond” — treating Sampaio not as a supporting act, but as an artist with his own claim to that stage.
What to Know Before Kickoff
- Game: Baltimore Ravens vs. Dallas Cowboys, the first NFL regular-season game held in Rio de Janeiro
- Date and time: September 27, 2026, kickoff at 4:25 p.m. ET
- Venue: Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro
- Broadcast in Brazil: Live on Globo’s GETV and sportv channels
- Merchandise: Limited-edition items tied to the halftime show will be sold at NFL Shops in Rio
- Part of: The NFL’s 2026 International Games, its largest international schedule to date, with stops in London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Munich, Paris and Rio de Janeiro
