China Media Group (CMG), the parent body of China’s state broadcaster, said on Friday that it has reached an agreement with FIFA for broadcasting the 2026 World Cup with less than a month left for the start of the tournament. The World Cup is set to start on June 11. The announcement ends a standoff over television rights for the tournament in the country, with the CMG group saying that the agreement also covers broadcasting rights to the men’s tournament in 2030 and for the Women’s World Cups in 2027 and 2031. It comes after a FIFA delegation – comprising secretary general Mattias Grafstrom and director of media rights Jean-Christophe Petit – travelled to Beijing this week to woo the country’s state broadcaster. FIFA later confirmed the details of the agreement in its own statement on Friday. “It’s a real pleasure that we have found an agreement with CMG,” said Grafstrom. “The Chinese market is of very big importance to the global football community. We know the passion of Chinese football fans, and we’re very happy and proud of our partnership with CMG to bring the FIFA World Cup to all fans in China.” “CMG have been a strong partner for the last 50 years and having them on board for the next two editions of the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women’s World Cup will really enhance the way the tournament will be broadcast,” Mr Grafström added. “CMG are at the forefront of broadcast technology, so we’re really looking forward to taking this FIFA World Cup, the first with 48 teams, to the next level.” China has the world’s largest football fan base with roughly 200 million people following the game. The country’s men’s team has only qualified for the World Cup once, in 2002. The women’s team have played in eight tournaments, finishing as runners-up in 1999 after a penalty shootout loss to the U.S. “Under the agreement, China Media Group has secured exclusive mainland China media rights and sublicensing rights for all platforms across the period, including free-to-air television, pay-TV, the internet and mobile devices,” CMG said in its statement. “China Media Group is one of Fifa’s important global partners, and the two sides have worked together since 1978. CMG will leverage its all-media communication matrix and world-class production and broadcasting capabilities to present audiences with a thrilling football spectacle.”Story continues below this ad Reuters further reports that CCTV has asked China Mobile’s streaming platform Migu to sign a distribution deal for the 2026 World Cup. In 2018, CCTV sublicensed World Cup streaming rights to Migu and Alibaba’s Youku, marking the first time it shared live digital rights with online platforms. For the 2022 tournament, CMG extended distribution rights to Migu, Douyin and several regional TV stations. The announcement of the deal quickly spread on Chinese social media, according to Reuters, topping the trending list on Weibo – the country’s X-like platform – with more than 27 million views within 45 minutes. China’s backed outlet The Paper further reported that the broadcast rights for the 2026 World Cup alone cost $60 million. For previous World Cups state broadcaster CCTV secured rights well in advance, rolling out promotional content and sponsor-led advertising weeks before kickoff. FIFA earlier this month said it had concluded broadcast agreements in more than 175 territories worldwide, while negotiations in China and India were ongoing. There is yet to be any developments on a deal with India, which accounter for 2.9 percent of the global linear TV reach for the 2022 World Cup, according to Reuters. Combined with the China’s 17.7 percent for the same tournament, it meant that 22.6 percent of the global audience that tuned in for the Qatar World Cup was left without an official broadcaster for the 2026 tournament. The Delhi High Court had on Tuesday asked the Centre and Prasar Bharati to respond to a petition seeking the broadcast of the tournament, leading to speculation online over whether it could be aired in India on Doordarshan. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued notice on the petition and listed it for hearing on May 20.
FIFA reaches 2026 World Cup broadcast deal with China
