"Fútbol Americano" was the marketing name used for the first-ever National Football League regular season game ever held outside the United States.[1] Played on October 2, 2005 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, the Arizona Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 31–14. The game drew an NFL regular season record of 103,467 paid fans.[2]
The name "Fútbol Americano" is Spanish for "American football," a term used to distinguish it from fútbol, which is Spanish for association football (soccer in American English). Fútbol is an approximation of the English word "football" to the Spanish phonology; a more literal translation of "foot ball" is balompié,[3] a calque term that is not used nowadays in Spanish-speaking countries other than for stylistic purposes in media.[4]
