Madrid's NFL moment: Commanders, Dolphins kick off NFL's Spain era - ESPN

Spain becomes the latest country to host an NFL regular-season game this week as the Washington Commanders and Miami Dolphins face off Sunday (9:30 a.m. ET) in Madrid — marking the league's first-ever game in Spain and the sixth different country outside the United States to host a game.

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Both teams enter the historic matchup with something to prove. The Commanders, winless in international play (0-1-1), turn to veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota for his fifth start of the season while Jayden Daniels remains sidelined. On the opposing side, the Dolphins are 2-5 in international regular-season games and have lost four straight overseas.

Adding to the storyline is a special connection under center: both Mariota and Tua Tagovailoa hail from Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, Hawai'i — where Tagovailoa first met Mariota at a passing academy when he was in fourth grade.

The Mariota-Tagovailoa connection gives the game extra meaning far beyond Madrid. Tagovailoa, who said he looked up to Mariota while in high school, called the meeting a powerful moment for kids in Hawai'i and across the Pacific. Seeing two Polynesian quarterbacks face off, he said, is a «really cool opportunity» for young players in places like Hawai'i, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga — and a full-circle moment for him.

Mariota said that for two quarterbacks who «grew up in the middle of the Pacific, far away from