PARIS (AP) — A day after more mass protests and clashes in Paris, the atmosphere was jovial and upbeat among American football fans attending the NFL's first game in France on Sunday.
Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints fans mingled around the Stade de France before the match, with a visible but discreet police presence at the national stadium as about 76,000 fans attended the sold-out contest.
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A supporter of the New Orleans Saints arrives to the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Police officers patrol outside the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Supporters of the Pittsburgh Steelers wait outside the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Supporters of the Pittsburgh Steelers pose for a photo outside the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
A police officer stands outside the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
It was the Moore family's first-ever trip to the city. All four wore Saints tops with “The Moore Family in Paris” written on the back.
“We're celebrating our dad's 70th birthday, so we're very excited to come to the first-ever NFL game in Paris,” Alicia Moore told The Associated Press outside the stadium.
She hopes to see more NFL games in France in the future.
“I think it's amazing that we're bringing our culture over here,” she said.
Security issues in France have dominated the media in recent days, but this was not weighing too much on their minds.
“At the game, no. In the city, some,” said A'ndrea Moore, adding that they celebrated Billy Moore's 70th with a nice meal in Paris, but that “the jury's still out on the bill.”
They arrived on Wednesday: A'ndrea and Billy coming from Mississippi; Deborah from Tennessee and Alicia from Texas.
Clint and Rachel Rushing, both decked out in matching black, gold and white Santa Claus outfits, made the trek from Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
“Came all this way to Paris just for a game,” Clint told the AP.
He joked he should be renamed “Saint-a Claus" because of his eye-catching outfit in the Saints colors, which made several fans stop and turn to take a closer look — and photo.
“Paris has been wonderful, we've really enjoyed Paris,” Rachel added. “We’ve not had any issues.”
Since the stadium is north of Paris and not realistically a walkable distance from the city center, transport is required via a short train ride from Gare de Lyon, Gare du Nord or Châtelet, or by subway.
As fans drifted out of the local train station at Saint-Denis, the mood was relaxed as they walked together under largely blue skies.
Once they arrived at the stadium, searches were carried out, customary before any match played here. A sniffer dog patrolled the area once fans were inside the stadium gates.
About 70,000 officers were deployed nationwide on Saturday, along with helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons. Gendarmes were stationed beneath the Arc de Triomphe, while major museums like the Louvre and Grand Palais were closed.
“NFL House” was shut in Paris on Saturday as the city awaited street protests and the soccer game between Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon was postponed at the police's request.
Shopkeepers boarded up windows while others opened temporarily and endured a nervous Saturday afternoon, after around 3,000 shops were damaged or looted last weekend. Some 550,000 people marched across France in protest against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools.
France's worst civil unrest for years saw city halls, public buildings and thousands of businesses nationwide impacted.
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A supporter of the New Orleans Saints arrives to the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Police officers patrol outside the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Supporters of the Pittsburgh Steelers wait outside the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Supporters of the Pittsburgh Steelers pose for a photo outside the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
A police officer stands outside the Stade de France stadium before the start of the NFL football game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Brazilians are voting Sunday in a presidential runoff that pits leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, a far-right ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Bolsonaro, the son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, bested Lula by more than 2.2 million votes in the first round of the election earlier this month. More than 33 million of the nearly 160 million registered voters did not turn out.
The difference between the two candidates is stark. Bolsonaro and Lula have opposing ideological views on issues ranging from U.S.-Brazil relations and climate change to social welfare. A win for Bolsonaro would signify a pivot to the right by Latin America’s most populous country and its largest economy in a year when Trump allies have notched victories in Chile, Peru and Colombia.
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Brazil was sharply divided across its five main regions in the first round of the presidential election.
Flávio Bolsonaro won in three of the country’s five regions, but Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took the second most populous by wide margins. Bolsonaro won in the populous and rich Southeast, where Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states lie. They will be the key battlegrounds in Sunday's runoff.
Bolsonaro, 45, carried the agribusiness hub of the country’s Center-West and easily won in the South, which borders Uruguay and Argentina. Lula erased much of Bolsonaro’s gains by winning in the Northeast and also triumphed in the North, the region that includes the Amazon rainforest.
Luzia da Souza, who runs a bar in a middle-class neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, is a longtime supporter of incumbent Lula and identified herself as "a Black woman from the periphery.”
“Black people’s lives greatly improved during Lula’s terms,” she said, and blamed Congress — which is largely right-wing — for the slow pace of reform.
“A president doesn’t govern on his own,” da Souza said. “But Lula is a man of the people and he knows what it’s like to be poor. I find it impossible not to vote for him.”
Anderson Falcão, a 43-year-old journalist in Brasilia who sported a red shirt in support of Lula, said he worried about Bolsonaro’s long-term political vision, which he called “exclusionary.”
“It’s a project that harms the less fortunate, harms the worker, women, the forest, the Amazon,” he said.
Brazil’s left was caught off guard when Flávio Bolsonaro bested incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by over 2 million votes in Brazil’s first-round election.
Since then, it has made a clear bet on an unprecedented wave of digital activism and street protests to support Lula. The shift signals a turning point for the left, which has historically struggled to counter the far-right’s dominant online presence and savvy digital strategy.
Between the campaign’s launch on Aug. 16 and up to the first round, Lula and Bolsonaro had more or less the same number of interactions, according to data analytics company Bites. But since the beginning of the second round, the incumbent’s profiles received around 111 million interactions against Bolsonaro’s 31 million, it said.
After the first-round results confirmed a runoff between Flávio Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, eliminated candidates started trying to influence the final vote.
Third-place finisher Augusto Cury, a writer who describes himself as a moderate and garnered 3.4 million votes, endorsed Bolsonaro to align anti-establishment voters. Conservative former governors Ronaldo Caiado and Romeu Zema, who combined received almost 3 million votes, also endorsed Flávio Bolsonaro. Renan Santos, who drew 2.4 million votes on a reject-all-other-candidates platform, has endorsed neither Lula nor Bolsonaro.
Lula voted in the city of Sao Bernardo do Campo, where he began his political career as a union leader in the 1960s.
“I am thankful to the Brazilian people. What people did to me in recent days is something I cannot repay,” he said before casting his vote and holding Brazil’s flag in front of the cameras.
He said he was still emotional about Saturday’s demonstration of support from voters in São Paulo. “I don’t think Paulista Avenue had so many people in any political event.”
“It is a lot of generosity, a lot of care, a lot of love. I will be forever grateful,” Lula said.
First lady Rosângela da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and other allies accompanied Lula to the polling station.
Voting is mandatory for literate Brazilians aged 18 to 70. But that has never been a real consideration for nonvoters, who must either submit a formal justification online or at a polling station, or pay a small fine of less than $1.
More than 33 million people did not vote in the first round of the elections on Oct. 4. Some of those were hospitalized, living overseas or working outside their voting areas. And others just chose not to.
Unexcused absences in three consecutive elections freeze tax IDs, block nonvoters from applying to state jobs, hinders loans from state banks, and delays the issuance of passports. For those who don’t want to choose a candidate even when they show up, they can cast blank or null votes.
Fabianne Borges Santoro, a 45-year-old physiotherapist who lives in the neighborhood where Bolsonaro voted, said she voted for change.
“The Workers’ Party has been in power for a long time and the voice of the people is saying that we need change to see improvements in security and the cost of living,” she said, wearing a top featuring Brazil’s national colors, yellow and green. “Things are really expensive and taxes are too high.”
Santoro said she once voted for Lula’s party but now associates it with corruption, particularly after the so-called Operation Car Wash that started in 2014, when the Workers’ Party was in power and entangled dozens of politicians.
Roulen Azeredo, a 76-year-old army reservist, said he had always voted right. He also echoed the desire for a shift in the country’s direction.
“The current government did nothing,” said Azeredo, who hopes Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup, will be freed if the former president’s eldest son wins. “His imprisonment is a disgrace.”
Sunday’s runoff is a battle of politics as much as personalities. Brazil’s next president — Lula or Bolsonaro, a Trump ally — will determine whether U.S. influence further expands in Latin America, where Trump-allied candidates have won elections in countries that include Colombia, Argentina and Peru.
Brazil is the region’s most populous country and its largest economy. A Lula win would leave Brazil and Mexico, the region’s second most populous country, with left-of-center leaders; a Bolsonaro win would likely bring Brazil closer to Washington.
Presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro voted at a local school in Rio de Janeiro just after 8 a.m., accompanied by his wife, Fernanda Bolsonaro. Wearing a light yellow shirt, he smiled and waved to supporters waiting to see him in the rain.
“The time of real change has arrived,” Bolsonaro told journalists. “Brazil can’t go on another four years on its current trajectory.”
As Bolsonaro voted, supporters of the opposition candidate shouted “Lula, thief, your place is in prison,” while fans of the incumbent responded with clapping and the chant “Olé olé olé ola, Lula!” The two anthems are common in demonstrations.
In Brazil, voting is fully electronic — meaning votes are counted much more quickly than in some other countries.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. and will close at 5 p.m. Brasilia time (2000 GMT) in most of the country.
On the ballot: the presidential face-off between Lula and Bolsonaro and six gubernatorial races. Votes are tallied quickly because each ballot box calculates results locally and prints a paper summary. The encrypted data is transmitted via secure networks to the nation’s top electoral court in capital Brasilia, which aggregates and publishes the counts within hours.
The system has been in place since the 1990s with few questioning its efficiency. One of its critics is former President Bolsonaro.
A voter stands at a polling station during a presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
A voter stands at a polling station during a presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
A man votes in the presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
A supporter of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is seeking reelection, lines up at a polling station during a presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro makes the victory sign after voting in the presidential runoff in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
A man wrapped in a Brazilian flag arrives to vote in the presidential runoff in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Red T-shirts depicting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, and yellow T-shirts depicting opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro hang for sale outside a building ahead of Brazil's presidential runoff election in Autazes, Amazonas state, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)
Supporters of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, crowd Paulista Avenue as his campaign vehicle passes during his final campaign rally ahead of Brazil's presidential runoff election in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
A supporter wears a mask of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, during his final campaign rally on Copacabana beach a day ahead of the presidential runoff election in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
FILE - Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, right, who is running for reelection, gestures as opposition presidential candidate Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro stands beside him during a televised presidential debate one week before the runoff election in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
