FIFA, soccer's global governing body, has initiated media rights tenders across the Caribbean, Greece and Cyprus for its men's World Cups scheduled to take place in 2026 and 2030. The bidding processes were launched on March 26. The tenders in Cyprus and Greece have a deadline of April 30 while the Caribbean process (which includes a total of 29 territories) has a deadline of May 6. Interested parties can access the invitation to tender documents through dedicated email addresses provided by FIFA.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be hosted across Mexico, the US, and Canada. This edition will see an expansion from previous tournaments with participation from as many as 48 teams compared to only 32 teams that participated in Qatar's World Cup held in 2022. This expansion implies that both European nations like Greece and Cyprus as well as Caribbean countries stand a better chance at qualifying for these future tournaments.
In contrast to this multi-country hosting model adopted for the year-2026 tournament; Spain, Portugal and Morocco are expected to host most games during FIFA's World Cup scheduled for year-2030. However Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay are also set to host one game each during this event.
Previous broadcast partnerships
During Qatar’s World Cup held last year (in year-2022), Antenna TV - a free-to-air commercial broadcaster covered all action live from ground zero within Greece while Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation did so within Cyprus.
DirecTV was responsible for broadcasting all matches within Caribbean territories under an agreement which also included coverage rights for Russia’s World Cup held back in year-2018; this contract was reportedly valued at $20 million at that time.
It is noteworthy that neither Greece nor Cyprus were able to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Similarly, no Caribbean nation was present at the tournament either.
Ongoing qualifying campaigns
Cyprus and Greece have already begun their qualifying campaigns for next year’s World Cup. The Caribbean region, along with Central America, started its qualifying campaign in March last year and will continue until November this year.
Earlier this month, FIFA launched tenders covering the next two editions of the men's World Cup in Laos, Malaysia and Thailand. In mid-February, it also took media rights processes for the 2026 and 2030 tournaments to nine European markets including Armenia, Azerbaijan among others. In terms of completed rights deals; Spanish public-service broadcaster RTVE alongside sports rights agency Mediapro recently secured an agreement for broadcasting rights of the 2026 tournament after reportedly bidding €55 million ($60.1 million).
This ongoing global tendering process is a testament to FIFA's commitment towards ensuring maximum coverage of its flagship event across all corners of our planet thereby making soccer more accessible to fans worldwide.
