Club football takes a back seat this week as an extended international window — running from 24 September through 6 October — launches the fifth edition of the UEFA Nations League. The League A group stage gets underway on Saturday, and the headline fixture sees England host Spain at Wembley in Group A3, a rematch of last summer's dramatic conversation-starter with Croatia and Czechia also drawn into the group. Thomas Tuchel's side open a campaign that will also take them to Croatia — played behind closed doors following a UEFA sanction — and Czechia before the group concludes in November.

The rest of League A offers no shortage of quality: Group A1 pits France, Italy, Belgium and Türkiye against one another, while Group A2 brings together Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia and Greece in a group DACH bettors will be watching closely. Group A4 sees defending champions Portugal begin their title defence against Denmark, Norway and Wales. Beyond the top tier, Leagues B and C also get underway this week and next, giving smaller footballing nations a genuine shot at promotion and a route back toward Europe's elite.

With qualification implications for the League A quarter-finals in March and a direct link to the following year's finals, every fixture this week carries far more weight than a traditional September friendly ever did.

England vs. Spain: Saturday, 26 September, 20:45 CEST · Wembley Stadium, London
Germany, Netherlands, Serbia & Greece (Group A2): Matchday 1 fixtures throughout the weekend
Full League A, B & C fixture list: Running through the international window, 24 September – 6 October

NFL Week 3 opens with Thursday Night Football as the Atlanta Falcons travel to the Green Bay Packers, both sides looking to build early-season momentum in a fixture that has historically delivered high-scoring, unpredictable football. The week's biggest storyline, however, unfolds on Sunday: the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys meet at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro for the NFL's first-ever regular season game in Brazil — a genuine slice of history sandwiched between the week's two primetime slots.

Monday Night Football closes out the week as the Philadelphia Eagles travel to face the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. With no byes yet this season — every team plays in Week 3 — both primetime fixtures carry the full attention of the betting markets, offering clean, uncomplicated slates without any rest-week uncertainty to account for.

Falcons at Packers: Thursday, 24 September, 02:15 CEST (night of 25 September)
Eagles at Bears: Monday, 28 September, 02:15 CEST (night of 29 September)

The road to the 2026-27 NHL season is underway, with the preseason schedule launched on Saturday, 19 September and running through this Saturday — an eight-day, 65-game slate across 36 NHL and neutral-site venues. This year's preseason has been trimmed from six games per team to four, a direct consequence of the league's new collective bargaining agreement that expands the regular season from 82 to 84 games for the first time since 1993-94.

One of the week's most charming storylines belongs to the Kraft Hockeyville tradition: the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators faced off in Trois-Rivières, Québec, celebrating the nearby community of Saint-Boniface, which won $250,000 in arena upgrades and youth hockey equipment as part of the programme. Elsewhere across the league, split-squad games and cross-conference tune-ups are giving every franchise its first look at rookies and roster battles ahead of the year's opening night.

The preseason wraps with a 14-game Saturday slate before the spotlight shifts fully to the regular season, which opens Tuesday, 29 September with a five-game tripleheader — Florida hosts Carolina, Montreal visits Toronto, and Vegas closes out the night in Chicago among the openers. With an 84-game season and two extra divisional matchups per team now in play, this preseason represents the shortest tune-up window in over three decades — making every preseason appearance this week count that little bit more for players on the roster bubble.

Preseason: Running through Saturday, 26 September · Regular Season Opens: Tuesday, 29 September