Netflix has made its first major entry into live men’s football by snapping up exclusive rights to the 2030 World Cup in Spain, home of the co-hosts and holders.
The agreement builds on the global streaming giant’s deal with Fifa for the exclusive rights in North America to show the next two editions of the Women’s World Cup.
It means the 2030 World Cup – uniquely being shared across Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with South American staging the opening matches – will mostly be behind a paywall in one of the primary host countries.
Netflix will make “one match per matchday” available for free in Spain, adding that a “package of matches, including every Spain match, both semi-finals and the final, will be made available for broadcast on a national free-to-air broadcaster, ensuring broad accessibility for audiences across the country”.
Netflix offering expansion
The deal, which also covers Andorra, could set a precedent for how the 2030 World Cup is broadcast as Fifa looks to follow its most lucrative edition yet this summer in the US, Canada and Mexico. In the UK, the World Cup remains a government-protected event which requires it to be broadcast on terrestrial TV.
Fifa general secretary Mattias Grafstrom said that he was “pleased to build on our partnership with Netflix”, adding that “our shared ambition is to bring fans closer to the game and enable as many people as possible to share in the excitement of the competition”.
Netflix’s live sport portfolio also includes the likes of the NFL Christmas Day broadcast, the Six Kings Slam tennis tournament and WWE. In addition it shows an array of boxing – including the upcoming bout between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua – and has a catalogue of sports documentaries.
The 2030 World Cup marks the 100th anniversary of the inaugural staging of the tournament, which was held in Uruguay in 1930.