SportyTV, the African sports media platform, will cover action from the imminent FIFA World Cup soccer tournament free-to-air (FTA) across Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya.
The broadcaster unveiled these rights earlier today, through an eleventh-hour announcement, and is set to showcase 34 games (out of 104 in total) from the World Cup, which will run between June 11 and July 19 across Mexico, the US, and Canada.
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The package includes 17 group-stage games and 17 from the knockout rounds, and covers both the opening game and the World Cup final.
The linear coverage of these games will be supplemented by all of the matches being shown live and free on the SportyTV YouTube channel in the three territories in question, as well as on the network's streaming platform and mobile app.
Of the three countries involved in this deal, only Ghana will take part in the World Cup – Nigeria, as one of African soccer's traditional heavyweights, were expected to, but lost out to DR Congo on penalties in the African qualifying zone playoffs.
Ghana will take on Panama, England, and Croatia, in the tournament's group stage.
At the last World Cup – held four years ago in Qatar – coverage rights across all three countries were held by both New World TV (French language) and SuperSport (English language).
Elias Gallego, Sporty Group's vice president of business development, marketing, and media, said: "The FIFA World Cup is the biggest sporting event on the planet, and our ambition is to make it available to as many fans as possible. Securing free-to-air rights across Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, allows us to reach millions of people through both television and digital platforms, while creating a World Cup coverage operation that matches the scale of the tournament itself."
This deal follows on from SportyTV securing pay-TV rights to the same tournament in South Africa, a deal announced in mid-April and entailing coverage of all 104 games in that market.
The South Africa men’s national team – known as Bafana Bafana – will feature at the upcoming World Cup for the first time since hosting the major tournament in 2010.
Elsewhere in FIFA World Cup news, the ExpressVPN service has been added to the list of tournament sponsors through another last-minute commercial deal.
ExpressVPN has become a tournament supporter – a lower tier of sponsorship rights – across the host nations of the US and Canada, as well as in Europe.
Its branding will, therefore, appear on pitch-side LED advertising hoardings during games, as the brand becomes the event's exclusive VPN supporter.
ExpressVPN is also now running a ticket-based activation, giving fans the chance to win tickets to World Cup action.
The tie-up is ExpressVPN's biggest-ever sports-based deal.
Commercially speaking, this week has already seen FIFA extend its partnership with brewing giant Anheuser-Busch (AB InBev), through 2030.
The new agreement extends the pair’s relationship to over 40 years, with the pair first partnering in 1986.
FIFA has announced several last-minute deals alongside AB InBev, including with customer relationship management provider Salesforce, which has become an official tournament supporter of the 2026 and 2027 World Cup editions.
