A potential FIFA World Cup 2026 blackout in the Chinese market has been avoided after public-service broadcast CCTV secured a multi-year agreement with the global soccer governing body.
Through this new deal, CCTV, a subsidiary of state-owned China Media Group (CMG) will showcase the 2026 and 2030 men’s FIFA World Cups, as well as the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cups.
The exclusive agreement will cover every match from each tournament, with reports from the country suggesting that popular streaming service Migu, which covered the FIFA Club World Cup last year, will strike a distribution deal with CCTV to expand the tournament’s reach in the country.
This includes linear and digital streaming rights, with the ability to sub-license these, as it has done for previous events.
The agreement strictly covers mainland China, thus excluding the special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau, as well Taiwan.
FIFA had allegedly been seeking a nine-figure fee for the 2026 World Cup alone, a high value that was a key contributor to the stalled negotiations, but now, CMG will reportedly pay only $60 million for the 2026 tournament, as part of the wider deal.
The 2026 World Cup will take place between June 11 and July 19, hosted jointly by Mexico, the US, and Canada, and is the first to feature 48 sides, a factor which has seen FIFA increase asking prices to account for the increased number of games.
China has not qualified for the men’s FIFA World Cup since the 2002 edition, and indeed will not compete in 2026, a factor that has likely affected the protracted negotiations and differences in valuation.
The Chinese national team has fared far better at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, qualifying for each of the last three editions (including a run to the quarter-finals in 2015) and has already qualified for the 2027 tournament.
However, without a tournament taking place on the continent for the foreseeable future, media rights values for women’s soccer across Asia still leave a lot to be desired, meaning FIFA will doubtless be some way short of its target value for the CCTV agreement.
For CMG, meanwhile, the deal adds to its growing list of sports coverage, including the WTA Finals and Australian Open tennis tournaments, all editions of the Olympic Games between 2026 and 2032, Formula 1 motor racing, and basketball’s NBA.
In terms of major market coverage, this agreement means only India is left with a World Cup 2026 blackout, with FIFA having failed thus far to strike a partnership with any of the country's major media enterprises.
