Soccer's global governing body FIFA has launched tender processes in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands covering the next three FIFA World Cups – two men's and one women's.
Specifically, a tender has been launched covering the 2026 (Mexico, the US, and Canada) and 2030 (mainly Portugal, Spain, and Morocco) men's World Cups in New Zealand, as well as the 2027 Women's World Cup (Brazil). In the Pacific Islands, meanwhile, the tender covers the 2026 and 2027 tournaments.
Interested parties should email newzealandmediarights@fifa.org, or fwc26-media-rights@fifa.org and fwwc2027-media-rights@fifa.org for those in the Pacific Islands. The deadline for bid submissions is May 27 at 10am Central European Standard Time.
The Pacific Islands tenders stretch across the following territories: the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu; French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna; and American Samoa.
New Zealand qualified for the 2026 men's World Cup earlier this year – the country will make its first appearance at a men's World Cup in 16 years – with the Oceania Football Confederation's qualifying process for the 2027 women's tournament set to begin in November.
The country jointly hosted the previous Women's World Cup, alongside its neighbor Australia, with the New Zealand national team eliminated in the group stages.
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By GlobalDataIn terms of previous rights-holders in these markets, the 2022 World Cup was shown in New Zealand by pay-TV heavyweight Sky NZ, while the 2023 women's edition was covered live domestically by both Sky NZ and the Stuff multi-media hub.
In the various Pacific Islands, meanwhile, the Women's World Cup was shown free-to-air by Pasifika, while the 2022 men's tournament was aired by pay-TV's Digicel.
Regarding recent FIFA tenders for its next men's and women's World Cups, late last week (April 25), the governing body launched a process for the 2027 Women's World Cup in select European and Central Asian territories.
Entities that want to participate in the tender process can request the ITT documents by emailing fwwc2027-media-rights@fifa.org. The bid submission deadline is 12pm CEST on June 3.
The 2027 Women's World Cup, the first edition of the tournament to be hosted in South America, will see 32 teams competing in at least eight host cities.
For the men's 2026 and 2030 tournaments, meanwhile, late March saw processes get underway in the Caribbean, Greece, and Cyprus.
As for completed rights deals, Spanish public-service broadcaster RTVE and sports rights agency Mediapro unveiled an agreement for the 2026 tournament last week, reportedly bidding €55 million ($60.1 million) to secure the package.
The 2030 edition will see the vast majority of games held across Iberia and Morocco, with three split equally between the South American countries of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the first-ever FIFA World Cup.
