The 2026 college football season will begin with a matchup between North Carolina and TCU in Dublin, Ireland, in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. The teams will play Aug. 29, 2026, at Aviva Stadium.
This game replaces the final leg of a home-and-home series that was originally scheduled to be played at TCU. The two teams open their 2025 schedules on Sept. 1 at North Carolina in what will be the Tar Heels’ first game under new head coach Bill Belichick.
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The 2026 opener will mark the fifth straight college football season to open in Ireland. Last year featured a 24-21 win for Georgia Tech over No. 10 Florida State. This year, Big 12 rivals Iowa State and Kansas State will meet on Aug. 23. Pittsburgh and Wisconsin are already scheduled to play on Aug. 28, 2027.
The Tar Heels and Horned Frogs have had three prior meetings, most recently in 1997, with North Carolina winning all three. The 2026 matchup is slated to be the 11th college football game ever played in Ireland and the seventh at Aviva Stadium, which opened in 2010. Previous contests include a pair of Notre Dame versus Navy matchups (2012 and ’23), Georgia Tech versus Boston College (2016) and Nebraska versus Northwestern (2022).
North Carolina is coming off a 6-7 season in 2024 and a season-ending loss in the Fenway Bowl. Former coach Mack Brown was fired on Nov. 26 and replaced on Dec. 11 by Belichick, who won six Super Bowls as head coach of the New England Patriots.
TCU, which reached the college football national championship game in the 2022 season, finished 9-4 last year in its third season under coach Sonny Dykes, winning the New Mexico Bowl. This will be the first international game for both programs.
What they’re saying
“We’re grateful to be selected to participate in the 2026 Aer Lingus College Football Classic,” Belichick said. “It’s a tremendous opportunity for our program, and we’re excited to represent the university and our fans on an international stage.”
Added Dykes: “We will take great pride in representing TCU internationally. With a good number of our players not having traveled overseas, I am most happy for them to have this opportunity and very much appreciate Aer Lingus and Irish American Events for making it possible for them, as well as all of TCU, to share in this experience. It will be special to take the field in Dublin and for our fans to see us on this type of stage in Ireland.”
(Photo: Mario Hommes / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
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