There is a very worrying news for Indian football fans. There are less than two months left for the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, but no network in India has yet purchased its broadcasting rights. FIFA has already sealed deals across Asia, including Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong, but no broadcaster is willing to spend money to televise FIFA in India. This situation is also unusual because India is considered a major football market by FIFA. Earlier this year, the FIFA World Cup trophy also came to India under the sponsorship of Coca-Cola, for which there was huge enthusiasm among the fans. The telecast of the FIFA World Cup in India has always been with one or the other major network. Ten Sports in 2002, ESPN-Star in 2010, Sony Pictures Network in 2014 and 2018 and Viacom18 in 2022 had bought the rights and the telecast was on Sports18 and JioCinema. But for 2026 the situation is completely opposite. In July 2025, FIFA had issued tenders for the Indian subcontinent. In this, the rights of the 2026 and 2030 World Cups were bundled together, so that the deal would appear financially attractive to the broadcasters. Apart from this, a separate tender was also floated for the 2027 Women’s World Cup. Its deadline was 2 September 2025, which has already passed. But the rights are still not sold. 5 biggest reasons for the indifference of broadcasters 1. There is no opportunity for advertising after every over like in cricket, in football India is not a subscription market, rather it runs on advertising. According to a former broadcasting CEO, in cricket there is an opportunity for advertising after every over, but this is not the case in football. People often turn off the TV during half-time. This is why the advertising impact of the Football World Cup in 2018 was $12.6 billion, which is expected to decline to $10.5 billion in 2026. 2. FIFA reduced the price, but the broadcaster is finding the deal expensive. After the merger of Star India and Viacom18, competition in the Indian market has reduced. According to the report, initially FIFA had kept the price of the combined rights of 2026 and 2030 World Cup at around Rs 928 crore. When a buyer was not found, it was reduced to about Rs 324 crore. However, Jiostar is estimating the price of this package to be around Rs 232 crore. 3. Fans do not pay for football in India, viewership on TV has decreased. Football is discussed a lot on social media, but this viewership does not translate into money. Indian spectators are reluctant to pay to watch football. India lost 87 million viewers on TV between 2018 and 2022 as people turned to digital, but even there advertising revenue is nominal. In such a situation, broadcasters do not want to take the risk of big events. 4. Advertisers must have spent the advertising budget till IPL. According to Ashish Bhasin, former CEO of Dentsu, ‘Cricket has captured the sports market in India. The FIFA World Cup is from June 11 and just before that the IPL will run till May 31. Big advertisers like automotive, FMCG, fintech and telecom would have spent a major part of their budget in the 74-match IPL. In such a situation, they will not have money left for the World Cup. 5. Scheduling is not in favor of India, 87% of the matches will be held after 10 pm. This time the World Cup is being played in America, Canada and Mexico. This means that out of 104 matches, more than 87% of the matches will be telecast after 10 pm IST. India will get to see only 13 matches a day. Therefore, advertisers are not ready to invest money for night matches. Events like IPL are sold at a higher price because they are telecast in prime time. Prasar Bharati is discussing rights; FIFA also has the option to broadcast on YouTube. A senior government official confirmed that Prasar Bharati has held preliminary talks with FIFA for the rights. Doordarshan also broadcast the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Due to the reach of DD Free Dish and ‘WAVES OTT’ platform, it can become a big option. Additionally, under India’s ‘Sports Broadcasting Signals Act’, major matches such as semi-finals and finals will have to be mandatorily shared with Doordarshan. At the same time, YouTube is FIFA’s preferred platform for the 2026 World Cup. Even if there is no telecast, Indian viewers will have access to creators, clips and select live matches on YouTube.
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