The French arm of international pay-TV heavyweight BeIN Sports has captured the broadcast rights for the FIFA World Cup tentpole competition in 2026 and 2030, despite French soccer’s Ligue 1+ OTT streaming service having already claimed success in the bidding for the upcoming edition.
BeIN will broadcast all 104 games from each of the next two editions of the quadrennial competition on its range of pay-TV linear channels, reportedly paying around €40 million ($47.5 million) for the two tournaments.
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This will include the 54-game slate already held by free-to-air commercial network M6, which BeIN will showcase alongside the linear broadcaster.
Ligue1+, the in-house direct-to-consumer service established by the LFP league organizer to house domestic rights for the Ligue 1 top flight, claimed victory in the tender at the end of January.
At that time, Nicolas de Tavernost, chief executive of the LFP Media arm, claimed that Ligue 1+ had secured the rights to all 104 games of the 2026 World Cup, in a bid to fill the gap between seasons with international soccer's flagship tournament.
However, it has come to pass that de Tavernost had spoken prematurely, well before the bidding process had concluded, and now BeIN has stolen a march on its rival and snapped up the coveted rights package.
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By GlobalDataSportcal understands that BeIN has felt attacked by the LFP, in a continuation of the recent acrimony between the two stemming from long-held media rights disputes.
For FIFA’s part, French outlet RMC Sport has said that the body has not recorded anything in the bidding process out of the ordinary, suggesting that Ligue 1+’s inability to finalize the rights discussion remains in the hands of the LFP, which the publication’s FIFA source added never signed an agreement with FIFA at all.
This is a big blow to LFP’s plans to monetize Ligue 1+ year-round with a diversification of content beyond the standard Ligue 1 rights.
The service launched in mid-July 2025 at a price point of €14.99 ($17.66) per month for an annual subscription, or a non-committal monthly tier at $19.99 per month.
Back in September 2025, it was reported that of Ligue 1+’s (then) 1.026 million subscribers, 72% have committed to the annual package as opposed to the rolling monthly commitment, which accounts for about €132.9 million per year from the around 738,000 annual subscribers, again a strong early indicator but far from making up for the rights shortfall.
This may become a more pressing issue as, despite Ligue 1+’s early success, the service may need to triple, or even quadruple its current subscriber base, or drastically increase its subscription price, to match the media rights income from even its disastrous recent cycles.
Indeed, this incident has already had significant repercussions in the French soccer landscape.
Yesterday, de Tavernost, who announced the FIFA rights deal prematurely, informed the LFP of his departure, only nine months after joining the body.
Reportedly, the long-time French media executive has butted heads with top side Paris Saint-Germain and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi (who also heads up BeIN), accusing the Qatari businessman (and the French champions at large) of not pulling in the same direction as the other 17 sides in the top flight.
By comparison, PSG feels that as the World Cup rights did not factor into Ligue 1+’s initial business plan, the loss in the bidding process is not so severe.
His impending departure plunges the LFP Media into yet another period of turmoil.
A former president of French side Bordeaux, de Tavernost, only took up the role to replace Benjamin Morel, who stepped down from the role in late 2024 amid a government probe into LFP Media’s operations.
In November 2024, the LFP’s offices were raided by authorities amid a probe into the body’s dealings with the CVC Capital Partners private equity firm, which owns a 13% stake in LFP Media.
De Tavernost, who retains the support of players such as CVC, will not depart immediately; he will remain in the post until a replacement is found.
