The United Kingdom's broadcasting giants, ITV and BBC, have once again secured the rights to share coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The tournament will take place across three North American countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
ITV has been confirmed as the broadcaster for the opening game of this prestigious tournament. The match between Mexico and South Africa will be aired live from Mexico City on Thursday 11 June. This is a repeat of the opening game from the 2010 World Cup.
In addition to this high-profile opener, ITV will also broadcast England’s first match against Croatia in Dallas as part of its coverage of 29 group-stage fixtures from this expanded tournament.
Shared coverage with BBC
While ITV kicks off with these exciting matches, it won't be alone in bringing football action to UK viewers. The BBC is set to show Scotland’s debut against Haiti along with their key clash with Brazil.
Moreover, should England progress beyond group stages into knockout rounds - which include round of 32, round of 16 and semi-finals - these games will be aired by BBC. As per tradition for major football tournaments like this one, both broadcasters are set to air live coverage of the final match on Sunday 19 July. ITV has already announced plans for broadcasting live from a base in New York throughout this period while details about where exactly BBC would operate are yet to be confirmed but reports suggest that they might cover certain fixtures “off tube” or remotely from their base in Salford.
Given that all matches are taking place across North America – spanning multiple time zones – some fixtures may kick off as late as at 2 am UK time. This could potentially affect viewing figures but die-hard football fans are expected to tune in regardless of the late hours.
World Cup 2026 Group TV schedule
The full schedule for group stage matches, including which channel will broadcast each game, has been released.
- 11 June: Mexico v South Africa (20:00 BST) - ITV
- 12 June: South Korea v play-off D (03:00) - ITV
- 12 June: Canada v play-off A (20:00) - BBC
- 13 June: USA v Paraguay (02:00) - BBC
- 13 June: Qatar v Switzerland (20:00) - ITV
- 13 June: Brazil v Morocco (23:00) - BBC
- 14 June: Australia v play-off C (05:00) - ITV
- 14 June: Scotland v Haiti (02.00) - BBC
- 14 June: Germany v Curacao (18:00) - ITV
- 14 June: Netherlands v Japan (21:00) - ITV
- 15 June: Play-off B v Tunisia (03:00) - ITV
- 15 June: Ivory Coast v Ecuador (00:00) - BBC
- 15 June: Spain v Cape Verde (17:00) - ITV
- 15 June: Belgium v Egypt (20:00) - BBC
- 15 June: Saudi Arabia v Uruguay (23:00) - ITV
- 16 June: Iran v New Zealand (02:00) - BBC
- 16 June: France v Senegal (20:00) - BBC
- 16 June: Play-off 2 v Norway (23:00) - BBC
- 17 June: Argentina v Algeria (02:00) - ITV
- 17 June: Austria v Jordan (05:00) - BBC
- 17 June: Portugal v play-off 1 (18:00) - BBC
- 17 June: England v Croatia (21:00) - ITV
- 18 June: Ghana v Panama (00:00) - ITV
- 18 June: Uzbekistan v Colombia (03:00) - BBC
- 18 June: South Africa v play-off D (17:00) - BBC
- 18 June: Play-off A v Switzerland (20:00) - ITV
- 18 June: Canada v Qatar (23:00) - ITV
- 19 June: Mexico v South Korea (02:00) - BBC
- 19 June: USA v Australia (20:00) - BBC
- 19 June: Scotland v Morocco (23:00) - ITV
- 20 June: Paraguay v play-off C (05:00) - ITV
- 20 June: Brazil v Haiti (02:00) - ITV
- 20 June: Netherlands v play-off B (18:00) - BBC
- 20 June: Germany v Ivory Coast (21:00) - ITV
- 21 June: Japan v Tunisia (05:00) - BBC
- 21 June: Curacao v Ecuador (01:00) - BBC
- 21 June: Spain v Saudi Arabia (17:00) - BBC
- 21 June: Belgium v Iran (20:00) - ITV
- 21 June: Cape Verde v Uruguay (23:00) - BBC
- 22 June: Egypt v New Zealand (02:00) - ITV
- 22 June: Argentina v Austria (18:00) - BBC
- 22 June: France v play-off 2 (22:00) - BBC
- 23 June: Senegal v Norway (01:00) - ITV
- 23 June: Algeria v Jordan (04:00) - ITV
- 23 June: Portugal v Uzbekistan (18:00) - ITV
- 23 June: England v Ghana (21:00) - BBC
- 24 June: Croatia v Panama (00:00) - BBC
- 24 June: Colombia v play-off 1 (03:00) - ITV
- 24 June: Canada v Switzerland & Play-off A v Qatar (20:00) - ITV
- 24 June: Scotland v Brazil & Morocco v Haiti (23:00) - BBC
- 25 June: Mexico v play-off D & South Africa v South Korea (02:00) - BBC
- 25 June: Germany v Ecuador & Curacao v Ivory Coast (21:00) - BBC
- 26 June: USA v play-off C & Paraguay v Australia (03:00) - ITV
- 26 June: Japan v play-off B & Netherlands v Tunisia (00:00) - BBC
- 26 June: France v Norway & Senegal v play-off 2 (20:00) - ITV
- 27 June: Cape Verde v Saudi Arabia & Uruguay v Spain (01:00) - ITV
- 27 June: Egypt v Iran & New Zealand v Belgium (04:00) - BBC
- 27 June: England v Panama & Croatia v Ghana (22:00) - ITV
- 28 June: Algeria v Austria & Argentina v Jordan (03:00) - BBC
- 28 June: Colombia v Portugal & play-off 1 v Uzbekistan (00:30) - BBC
With both ITV and BBC sharing broadcasting duties for this grand event, UK viewers can look forward to extensive coverage of all the action from the FIFA World Cup in North America come summer of 2026.
