Spain’s world champions will defend their title on home soil in 2030, and you can watch it with your Netflix subscription. Credit: FIFA / Facebook
Football fans in Spain are still celebrating July’s win in New York, yet the next World Cup, played on home soil, will mostly sit behind a streaming subscription. Netflix has bought every match for Spain and Andorra, though the games most people actually care about won’t cost a thing.
Netflix will stream all 104 games in Spain and Andorra
Fans hoping to flick between World Cup games on ordinary TV in 2030 will be reaching for the Netflix app instead, with the streaming giant confirming on Tuesday October 13 that it has bought the exclusive rights to the tournament in Spain and Andorra.
The deal covers all 104 matches, shown live, of a centenary World Cup that Spain co-hosts with Portugal and Morocco. Three opening games in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay mark 100 years since the very first tournament in Uruguay in 1930, with the other 101 played across the three host nations.
Netflix also plans pre-match, half-time and post-match shows with what it called a genuinely Spanish approach, plus a daily round-up on match days and build-up programmes in the months before kick-off. How much it paid hasn’t been made public.
Spain’s matches, the semi-finals and the final will be free
Although most games will only be accessible through their platform in Spain, the games that tend to empty the streets won’t need a subscription. Netflix said it’ll offer a package to a national free-to-air channel (one anyone can watch without paying) covering all of Spain’s matches, both semi-finals and the final.
The channel hasn’t been named yet, and Netflix said more details would follow. On top of that, one match per match day will be free to watch in Spain, though the company hasn’t explained which games those will be or how viewers will get to them.
That split has been a long running trend in Spain, as Spanish broadcasting rules have treated the national team’s World Cup games and the final as events of general interest that should be available on free TV. So anyone thinking ‘I’m not paying for Netflix just to watch Spain’ can relax on that front, at least.
Every other game will need a Netflix subscription
For the rest of the tournament, Netflix will be the only way in. Its cheapest plan in Spain currently costs €8.99 a month with adverts, with Standard at €14.99 and Premium at €21.99 since the last price rise in April 2026. There’s no word on what it’ll cost by 2030, or whether fans will need to pay anything extra for football.
It comes as quite a change from how it worked this summer. During the 2026 World Cup, RTVE showed 17 group games free on La 1, including all three of Spain’s, then one knockout match a day right up to the final, as DAZN carried all 104 for paying customers.
For Netflix, it’s a huge step into live sport, which already includes NFL, WWE and big boxing nights, as well as the US and Canadian rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups. Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria said she was in the stadium when Spain lifted the trophy this year and that the company was excited to offer every match to fans in Spain and Andorra. FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström said the deal supported the shared aim of bringing football closer to fans.
Spain go into their home World Cup as champions
Spain will start the tournament as world champions after beating Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the final on Sunday July 19. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez welcomed the squad at La Moncloa the following day and urged fans to dream of a third title on home soil in 2030.
Netflix still has to name its free-to-air partner and explain how the free match day game will work. Until it does, fans have about 4 years to save up for the subscription to the platform to gain access to the 100+ matches to be broadcast on its site.