Villanova men’s and women’s basketball teams are set to open the 2026-27 season against Notre Dame in Rome, Italy, on Sunday, Nov. 1, per CBS Sports.

The Philadelphia Inquirer confirmed the CBS Sports report.

The 2026-27 college basketball season is officially set to start on Monday, Nov. 2, but the NCAA quietly approved a waiver in January to allow the teams a one-day head start, given the historic precedent of the games, sources told CBS Sports.

Both programs have reasons to play in Rome. Villanova has one of the most famous alumni, Pope Leo XIV, who currently resides in Italy at the Vatican. Pope Leo XIV, also known as Robert Francis Prevost, graduated from Villanova in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree. 

Notre Dame has the largest catholic university by endowment.

Villanova head coach Kevin Willard announced that the men’s basketball team would play Notre Dame on Jon Rothstein’s Inside College Basketball Now podcast on Tuesday morning.

Villanova and Notre Dame worked for months to plan out the doubleheader, sources told CBS Sports. Talks became serious last fall. Paperwork has not been finalized, according to CBS Sports.

FOX is planning to broadcast both games, according to CBS Sports. The doubleheader is set to tipoff in the afternoon, meaning the games will air in the morning for viewers in the United States. The plan is to have the men’s game lead into FOX’s NFL coverage on that Sunday, with the women’s game to air afterward on FS1.

This is a developing story. The Villanovan will continue to update the story as information becomes available.