2026 FIFA World Cup broadcasting rights
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The 2026 FIFA World Cup was an international football tournament organized by FIFA, with an expansion over the previous competition from 32 to 48 teams. The broadcasting rights were sold directly by FIFA to national and trans-national broadcasters.
Host broadcaster
Host Broadcast Services served as the tournament's host broadcaster.[1] The International Broadcast Centre was established in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, U.S.[2][3][4]
Broadcast in host countries
On February 12, 2015, FIFA renewed the U.S. and Canadian broadcasting rights contracts for Fox (U.S. English), Telemundo Deportes (U.S. Spanish), and Bell Media (Canada) to cover 2026, without accepting any other bids. A report in The New York Times asserted that this extension was intended as compensation for the rescheduling of the 2022 World Cup to November–December rather than its traditional June–July scheduling, as it created considerable conflicts with major professional sports leagues that are usually in their offseasons during the World Cup.[5][6][7]
In the United States, 69 matches aired on Fox and the remainder on FS1. Fox's coverage streamed on its subscription service Fox One,[8][9] Fox Sports struck a partnership with Cosm to show 40 matches in their three current locations at time, including the Mexico vs. South Africa opening match, all USMNT matches, and the final.[10]In Spanish, 92 fixtures aired on Telemundo with 12 more on the cable channel Universo, while all 104 games streamed on Peacock.[11][12] Futbol de Primera had the Spanish radio broadcasting rights.[13] It was reported that at least 20 percent of Telemundo's viewers stated that English was their primary language instead of Spanish. This was partly due to the fact that Fox cut to commercials during the hydration breaks while Telemundo stayed with its coverage. Furthermore, Peacock was the cheaper subscription at $10.99 per month versus Fox One at $19.99 per month. This thus reportedly led to "tensions" between Fox/FS1/Fox One's parent company the Fox Corporation, and Telemundo/Peacock's parent company NBCUniversal. As a result, FIFA will bundle the U.S. English and Spanish rights together for the next World Cups to increase their bids.[14][15]
Bell Media's coverage was split across the CTV Television Network (with streams on Crave) and TSN in English and Noovo and RDS in French. TSN Radio held the national audio streaming rights.[16]
In Mexico, Televisa and TV Azteca held the rights to 32 matches (the same set of 32 aired on both broadcasters).[17] All 104 are available via streaming on a premium tier of Televisa's Vix platform.[18] Radio rights were held by Radiópolis and its W Radio. The rights for TV Azteca and Radiópolis were granted under sublicense from Televisa.[13]
Global social media platforms
On January 8, 2026, FIFA announced TikTok as a "preferred platform" for World Cup video content. Under the agreement, official broadcasters streamed selected match content through a dedicated World Cup hub on the TikTok app.[19] A similar agreement with YouTube was announced on March 17. It allowed broadcasters to stream selected matches in full on their official YouTube channels, while the opening ten minutes of every match could also be streamed on the platform. The agreement was subject to existing territorial broadcasting arrangements. In Brazil, YouTube's partnership was implemented through CazéTV to show all tournament games for free in Brazil.[20][21][22]
Broadcasters
Sport24 secured the rights for international in-flight and cruise ship travel.[23]
Notes
- 54 matches only
- Agreement between Mediapro and DAZN. DAZN will produce the games for Mediapro cable channels, and in turn, DAZN will be allowed to show games on the streaming platform.
- Eight Argentina matches plus a third place match
- 12 matches
- 55 Matches only, free-to-air television, pay TV, and streaming
- 32 matches only, co-production cooperation on free-to-air television and pay TV
- Excluding Bermuda, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Saint Lucia
- 54 matches only
- Eight matches only (opening match, four quarter finals, both semis, and a final), terrestrial broadcast only via DD Dish
- 35 matches (including opening match, both semi finals, and a final)
- 33 matches in Terrestrial TV and NHK+/NHK One, all matches in NHK BS Premium 4K
- 15 matches only
- 10 matches only
- 32 matches only, on Free-to-air TV and their website, same matches as on Televisa
- 40 matches only
- 20 matches divided among RTP, SIC and TVI
- One match per day
- FTA coverage of 28 matches (24 for group stage (inc. opening match), both semis, and both finals)
- Excluding Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Curaçao, Guyana, Paraguay and Suriname
- For Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Chile, Perú and Venezuela, 30 matches: 22 from the group stage, 3 from the round of 32, 2 from the round of 16, 1 quarterfinal, the 2 semifinals, and the final. In addition, in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Disney+ Premium will broadcast the matches featuring that country’s national team
- Sub-licensed from JTBC
- French-language rights
- English and Portuguese-language rights
- Main broadcaster; For CHT MOD and OTT (ELTA.tv and Hami Video)
- Cable TV broadcast; 37 matches
- Free-to-air (Terrestrial/Cable) TV broadcast; 34 matches
- At least 1 daily match on FTA channel, All matches on their streaming service
- 2 matches on FTA channel
- Audio rights to all matches; television rights to 50% of matches and shared coverage of the final