Just one week before the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Mexico, FIFA has agreed a broadcast rights deal with India’s Zee Entertainment to secure key market viewership.
India’s Zee Entertainment has secured a late broadcast rights agreement with FIFA to live broadcast the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which gets underway on 11 June.
The agreement will see Zee’s Unite8 television channels and its Zee 5 streaming platform broadcast all 104 World Cup games live.
The deal, worth a reported $40m, will also cover the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, as well as 39 other FIFA competitions, such as the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The agreement also covers documentary content linked to FIFA competitions.
FIFA said in a statement that it aims to strengthen the visibility of its competitions in India and collaborate with Zee to broaden the scope of its competitions to broadcast and digital platforms.
Punit Goenka, Chief Executive Officer of Zee Entertainment, said: “We are excited to bring one of the world’s biggest sporting spectacles to Indian audiences.
“Football cuts across regions and demographics, and the investments in garnering the media rights and launching dedicated sports channels reflect our clear belief in its long-term potential. Our approach has been to invest in properties where we see current relevance and future growth potential.
“Our partnership with FIFA will enable us to unlock the true value of the sport in line with our sharp focus on growth and profitability, while amplifying the excitement of the game for every fan.”
Why did it take so long?
Despite India having never qualified for a World Cup, its population of more than 1.4 billion people is a core Asian audience for global World Cup viewership.
Viacom18 subsidiary JioStar broadcast the 2022 World Cup across India. And in 2023, Viacom18 parent company Reliance entered into a joint venture with Walt Disney India.
The new company was reportedly interested in retaining rights for the 2026 World Cup, and offered $20m to FIFA – $40m less than Reliance paid for the 2022 rights. However, this was well short of the reported $100m price FIFA was asking for.
Sony was another contender, but reportedly stepped away from negotiations after determining the deal wasn’t commercially viable.
Market interest for 2026 World Cup rights was low due to time zone constraints from games being played in the co-host countries; the US, Canada and Mexico. For example, a game kicking-off on US Eastern Time at 3:00pm would be broadcasted at 12:30am in India.
India, and China’s, importance to FIFA
Similar to India, China was also close to a World Cup blackout before China Media Group (CMG) agreed a broadcast deal for the 2026 edition of the competition.
According to a Reuters report, India and China accounted for 22.6% of global digital streaming reach during the 2022 World Cup.
India, specifically, contributed to 2022 World Cup viewership with 746 million digital and social media viewers, linear television viewership of 83.8 million people, and a streaming viewership of 84.9 million people.
FIFA Chief Business Officer, Romy Gai, said: “The Indian market is of strategic importance for FIFA as it displays immense potential driven by a young and passionate audience.
“We believe the extensive broadcast and digital distribution ecosystem of ‘Z’, coupled with their deep understanding of local viewers and multi-platform capabilities, will play a pivotal role in expanding the reach of football with fans across every part of India.”
