NBA: London and Manchester will host games of the regular season in 2026 and 2027

The NBA will return to the United Kingdom for the first time since 2019, with a match in London in 2026 and Manchester in 2027.

London’s Arena O2 was selected to host a regular season game between Orlando Magic and the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday 18 January 2026.

It will be the first NBA match in the United Kingdom by the Washington Wizards victory over New York Knicks in January 2019, with London previously that it hosted annual games between 2011 and 2019.

Manchester will host a regular season game for the first time in 2027 in the cooperative Arena, with the teams involved to be revealed before the start of that season.

Previously the city has held a pre-installation match between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Philadelphia 76ers in October 2013 in the other large covered entertainment headquarters of the city, which is now called AO Arena.

The mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, said: “London is now the undisputed sports capital of the world and the NBA that arrives at O2 in January 2026 will further conclude our global status”.

Director BEV Craig, leader of the Manchester City Council, added: “Manchester has once again shown what a magnificent draw is for important events and we are excited to welcome NBA to our city”.

The NBA will hold two games in Europe in each of the 2026, 2027 and 2028.

Berlin will host the other game in 2026 with Paris who did it in 2027, while in 2028 they will both host a game.

The teams involved in games 2027 and 2028 will be nominated before the start of those seasons.

The 2025-26 season begins on Tuesday 21 October.