ESPN’s Week 0 NC State-Virginia game from Brazil moved to U.S.

The first college football game to be played in Brazil is no longer in the cards.

On Wednesday, North Carolina State University and the University of Virginia announced their Week 0 game, initially scheduled for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been moved to Charlottesville, Virginia.

NEWS: The Brazil game between NC State and Virginia in Week 0 has been moved to Charlottesville. Date has not been confirmed. pic.twitter.com/cL0kPLVG0f

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) June 3, 2026

“Following extensive review with operational partners and international stakeholders, the 2026 NC State at Virginia football game, originally scheduled to be played in Brazil, will be relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia, for this conference matchup,” NC State’s statement read. “This change follows communication from Athlete Advantage, which informed the ACC and participating schools that the event could not be conducted.”

The statement goes on to say that the schools are working with the NCAA and ESPN to confirm whether or not the game can continue to be played as scheduled on the Week 0 date, August 29.

Often, Week 0 games are scheduled for the week before the official start of the season because of lengthy travel arrangements. The recent stretch of Week 0 games in Dublin, Ireland, for instance, would fall into this category.

However, there are plenty of examples of Week 0 games that do not fall into this category, but still receive the requisite waiver from the NCAA to play on the date.

One would imagine that this game would be no exception. ESPN has planned a full afternoon of football for that day already; with North Carolina and TCU starting the day in Dublin at noon ET, and NC State-Virginia being scheduled to follow that game at 3:30 p.m. ET.