Football World Cup 2026: YouTube and FIFA agree cooperation
YouTube will be the official partner of the 2026 Football World Cup. FIFA hopes the agreement will lead to new formats and new target groups.
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The video platform YouTube and the world football association FIFA have concluded a strategic cooperation for the upcoming Football World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. With the agreement announced on Tuesday, YouTube becomes a “preferred platform” for the tournament. The FIFA's vision is that official media partners and YouTubers will thus have more opportunities and formats to present the tournament's events.
“This includes the opportunity to publish extended highlights, behind-the-scenes footage, Shorts and video-on-demand content that resonates with audiences on YouTube to extend their overall reach and engagement,” says a FIFA press release. For the first time in World Cup history, media partners will have the opportunity to show the first ten minutes of every match live on their YouTube channel, FIFA further states.
“Unprecedented access” for YouTubers
Selected matches may also be shown in full length. In addition, FIFA is opening up its digital archive and will show full-length recordings of previous World Cup matches and “many other legendary moments in sports history” on the FIFA YouTube channel, as stated.
FIFA and YouTube also intend, according to the announcement, to offer a group of YouTube editors from all over the world “unprecedented access to the Football World Cup.” The world association hopes that “this unique, fresh perspective with personal stories, tactical analyses, and behind-the-scenes glimpses” will lead to more vibrant reporting that aims to appeal to new target groups around the globe.
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Impact on the German TV market?
For German football fans, the cooperation may bring about some changes. According to current plans, rights holder Telekom intends to broadcast all 104 tournament matches live on its MagentaTV platform. Furthermore, public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have acquired sublicenses. They are allowed to show 60 matches on free-to-air television, including all matches of the German national team, the opening match, the semi-finals, and the final.
According to industry insiders, discussions are currently underway with the German licensees to broadcast between 15 and 30 World Cup matches live on YouTube, as reported by the dpa news agency. However, it is not yet clear which matches these will be.
(akn)
