Italian public-service broadcaster, Rai, has secured exclusive multi-platform free-to-air rights to broadcast the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Italy. The deal includes rights to show 35 matches from the tournament, including all games featuring the Italian national team should they qualify.
The tournament is set to take place across June and July in Mexico, the US, and Canada. Rai's package includes broadcasting of the opening match, all games involving Italy (subject to their qualification), semi-finals and final matches. Additionally, non-exclusive radio rights for all matches are also part of this agreement.
Rai plans on providing extensive coverage of the World Cup by broadcasting at least 32 matches on its main channel - Rai 1. It will also offer highlights and clips from all competition's matches across its TV and digital platforms.
Italy’s road to qualification
Italy is set to face Northern Ireland in a playoff semi-final on March 26th in Bergamo. If victorious, they will then compete against either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina for a spot in the World Cup finals.
Despite uncertainty around Italy's participation due to these playoffs being scheduled after allocation of Italian rights by FIFA, Rai has committed itself fully towards this venture.
Italy is considered one of Europe’s foremost soccer nations but hasn't participated in a men's FIFA World Cup since 2014. Failure of their national team to qualify could potentially lead to decreased viewing figures as well as advertising revenue - an outcome observed during recent editions of such tournaments. Rai had previously covered the last edition held at Qatar in 2022 as well.
Competition for broadcasting rights
FIFA initiated its invitation-to-tender (ITT) process for World Cup broadcasting rights within Italy around mid-October with a submission deadline of November 25th. Earlier this month, reports suggested that DAZN, the global sports subscription platform, was in final-stage negotiations alongside Rai to acquire World Cup rights. A source confirmed to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport) that DAZN is in the last set of contract negotiations around a deal.
DAZN has already secured World Cup broadcasting rights for Japan and Spain and is a mainstay of soccer broadcasting within Italy where it covers Serie A league matches through a deal running till the 2028-29 season.
In recent developments regarding this year's World Cup broadcast rights, Now TV - owned by IT and telecommunications giant PCCW - secured exclusive rights for Hong Kong earlier this week. Singaporean state broadcaster Mediacorp also agreed terms to show all 104 matches earlier this month.
