Netflix's First Men's World Cup Rights
Netflix has secured exclusive rights in Spain and Andorra to the 2030 men's World Cup, according to reports from The Athletic's Dan Sheldon and Philip Buckingham. The agreement, unveiled on Tuesday, covers all 104 matches of the 48-team tournament that Spain will co-host alongside Morocco and Portugal, with centenary celebration matches also planned in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina. This marks the first territories where Netflix will hold rights to the FIFA Men's World Cup, as its previous World Cup rights were limited to the women's game.[S1][S2]
The streamer plans full live coverage including pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows, plus a daily round-up program on match days and extensive pre-tournament programming. Netflix won't place the entire tournament behind its paywall: one match per matchday will be available for free in Spain, and a package headlined by every Spain match, both semifinals, and the final will be sublicensed to a national free-to-air broadcaster. Spain enters the tournament as the current World Cup champion.[S1][S2]
A Blueprint for Future Markets
Sports Business Journal's Austin Karp suggested the Spanish arrangement could become Netflix's blueprint as it pursues men's World Cup rights in other markets, pointing to the model of one daily match for free and a package sold to an over-the-air partner. FIFA has yet to sell U.S. rights to the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, and incumbents Fox and NBC, along with Disney, YouTube, Prime Video, and Apple, have reportedly shown interest. FIFA reportedly wants to package English- and Spanish-language rights together, which could favor a streamer like Netflix that can run both language feeds on a single platform.[S1]
Netflix's World Cup involvement began with the women's tournament. In December 2024, the streamer won U.S. rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cups after Puck's John Ourand reported that an outsider placed the winning bid, taking over from Fox, which had aired the tournament in the U.S. since 2015. Netflix also holds Canadian rights to both tournaments. In June, Netflix and FIFA released a World Cup video game to coincide with the start of this summer's men's tournament, and ahead of the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil, Netflix has added Andrés Cantor, named Rebecca Lowe as host, held talks with Megan Rapinoe and Marta about analyst roles, and announced plans to broadcast the Women's World Cup draw live from Brazil in December.[S1]
Netflix's Growing Live Sports Portfolio
Last month, Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria told CNBC the company was open to discussing men's World Cup rights with FIFA, saying it has a great partnership and relationship with FIFA and will always have those conversations. The Spain deal is not Netflix's first major soccer investment: the streamer holds broadcast rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cups and earlier this year announced a four-year deal with Concacaf to stream the Nations League finals and the Concacaf Gold Cup tournaments in Mexico from 2027. In the U.S., Netflix already carries NFL and MLB games as well as select boxing, MMA, and WME events.[S1][S2]
