Every College Football Game Played Outside the US (Since 1976)

College football fans are no strangers to international destinations, especially to bookend the season. In recent years, it’s become a regular occurrence to see football games in Mexico, Europe, the Caribbean islands, and beyond.

But college football fans may be surprised to learn just how long and rich the history of international college football is. College football has been played outside the United States as far back as 1874, when Harvard played McGill on the Montreal Cricket grounds as the concept and rules of American football were still unsettled.

In total, there have been more than 110 international college football games, and that doesn’t include Simon Fraser University’s NAIA home games in Burnaby, British Columbia. 

Many international games from the premodern and midcentury periods might be labeled exhibitions by modern standards. As late as 1976, Texas A&I was playing European exhibitions in places like West Germany and Austria– likely as a political tool to show off Western society in the Cold War era.

But in September 1976, Grambling State played Morgan State in Tokyo’s Pioneer Bowl, kicking off what would eventually become the modern era of splashy international games. 

Fans can draw a pretty straight line from that 1976 Pioneer Bowl to this year’s Aer Lingus College Football Classic between North Carolina and TCU – which, of course, BetMGM has college football odds for. (You probably already knew that.)

You can see the full list of every international game since 1976 in the chart below. 

Every College Football Game Ever Played Outside the United States Since 1976