DAZN picks up streaming rights to 2026 World Cup in Spain

February 9 – Streaming giant DAZN’s increasing influence within the sports broadcasting industry has another mainstream step with the announcement that it will become Spain’s pay-television home of the World Cup in 2026.

Ever since partnering with FIFA on the Club World Cup, DAZN’s relationship with the governing body has grown significantly and will include the relaunch of FIFA’s own broadcast channel FIFA+ on the DAZN platform later this year.

Spanish public broadcaster RTVE will retain a free-to-air presence with one match per day, while DAZN will exclusively distribute the Grup Mediapro World Cup channel, carrying every game live and on demand.

According to Superdeporte, all 104 matches will be on the platform, and live behind a DAZN login. For the Club World Cup in the US last summer matches in Spain were free to watch but required a log-in. No detail of commercialisation of the World Cup broadcast has been announced, or the rights fee DAZN is paying.

RTVE’s role remains significant in the big picture of free-to-air, but will now be selective. Spain’s matches will be prioritised, alongside the opening game on June 11 at the Estadio Azteca, key knockout fixtures, both semi-finals, the third-place play-off, and of course, the final on July 11 at MetLife Stadium in New York.

Spanish broadcast regulation mandates that all Spanish matches plus the World Cup final have to be aired on free-to-air television.

For DAZN the objective is to gain subscribers beyond the traditional base, and with the expanded World Cup, match inventory is at an all-time high. The platform plans to give subscribers wall-to-wall coverage, analysis, storytelling, and the promise that fans won’t miss a moment.

DAZN has a similar World Cup 2026 streaming deal in Brazil.

Óscar Vilda, DAZN’s CEO for Spain and Portugal, said the partnership is about “democratising the spectacle” – accessibility through flexibility, innovation through streaming.

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