RIYADH: American NFL legend Tom Brady will participate in a flag football event in Riyadh next year, organizers announced on Monday.
Brady, Fanatics, FOX Sports and OBB Media are teaming up to deliver the event on Saturday, March 21, 2026.
He will be joined by some of the NFL’s biggest names at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh as a part of this year’s Riyadh Season.
Brady is partnering with Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, to promote the event.
Alalshikh reportedly said: “Riyadh Season prides itself on staging world-class events and this is certain to be the biggest competition of its kind yet in flag football.”
Alalshikh added that it would bring “together some of the most prominent names in sports and entertainment for what promises to be a highly competitive and unforgettable event.”
The event, The Fanatics Flag Football Classic, is a round-robin tournament featuring three teams of current and former NFL players and world-class athletes, including Brady, who makes his first return to the field since his retirement in 2023.
Flag football is the fastest-growing sport in the world, with more than 20 million players globally, and will debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Flag football is a variant of American or Canadia gridiron football, where instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end a down.
The event will be broadcast live on FOX Sports and available on Tubi.
Other confirmed players include Saquon Barkley, CeeDee Lamb, Christian McCaffrey, Sauce Gardner, Myles Garrett, Brock Bowers, Maxx Crosby, Tyreek Hill, Odell Beckham Jr., and Rob Gronkowski.
Additional participants, which will feature stars across sports and entertainment, will be announced in the coming months. The teams will also be led by three of the best coaches in football today: Pete Carroll, Sean Payton and Kyle Shanahan.
The former New England Patriot quarterback said: “I couldn’t be more excited to return to the field, get the competitive juices flowing alongside some of the game’s brightest stars and iconic legends, and bring a truly unique global sports event to fans everywhere during Riyadh Season.”
