FIFA 2026 World Cup: No Broadcast Deal in India as Kickoff Nears

With 23 days until the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Mexico, organisers have failed to secure a broadcast partner in India, the world’s most populous nation, threatening to leave hundreds of millions of fans without access to the tournament.

When Argentina won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Vishwas Banerjee, a Lionel Messi fan in Bangalore, celebrated wildly, watching the match on a big screen at a street crossing near midnight.

“It was one of the best nights, watching Messi lift the World Cup,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Everyone went crazy. We danced on the streets,” Banerjee said, recalling the excitement felt more than 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) away in a cricket-dominated country.

Messi is expected to make his final World Cup appearance at the 2026 tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, but Indian fans may miss out entirely.

FIFA began selling media rights for the 2026 men’s tournament and the 2027 Women’s World Cup expecting bids of around $100 million, but no Indian buyer has emerged despite reportedly slashing the asking price.

Here is what we know about the broadcast rights crisis in South Asia’s largest market.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, India trailed only China in overall engagement, with more than 745 million fans following the action across all media platforms, according to FIFA data.

India ranked among the top 10 television markets, ahead of World Cup participants Germany, France and England, with nearly 84 million viewers.

Digital viewership was also significant. For the final alone, 32 million viewers tuned in on Reliance’s JioCinema streaming service, and the tournament clocked 40 billion minutes of watch time on the platform.

Reliance’s Jio paid $60 million for tournament rights in 2022, while Sony Sports had secured rights for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups and Euro 2016 for about $90 million in 2013.

FIFA expected strong interest for the 2026 rights, given that track record, but market conditions have shifted.

Experts say the main deterrent for Indian broadcasters is the match schedule: most games will be played at odd hours due to a 10-12 hour time difference with North America.

Only 14 of the 104 World Cup matches will start before midnight local time in India.

The final in New Jersey on July 19 will begin at 12:30 a.m. in India (19:00 GMT).

By comparison, 98.4 percent of matches at the 2018 World Cup began before midnight, and 82.5 percent at the 2022 edition in Qatar.

Karan Taurani, executive vice president at Elara Capital, described television as a “struggling” medium in India.

“When you have these kinds of sporting events, effectively it is mostly digital that is monetising and raising big money,” Taurani told Al Jazeera. “That is a big reason why no one’s showing interest in the FIFA World Cup.”

Taurani noted that cricket dominates India’s sports economy.

“Only a small fraction of people who watch the Indian Premier League [IPL] will watch the FIFA World Cup,” he said, adding that an even smaller fraction tune in past midnight.

For broadcasters and advertisers, Taurani explained, these factors shrink the target audience.

He also pointed to a recent Indian government ban on fantasy real-money betting apps, which reduced overall spending in the sports entertainment sector.

The World Cup begins just 10 days after the IPL 2026 final, one of India’s most-watched sporting events, where major advertisers concentrate most of their annual sports budgets.

The cost of football streaming rights in India has declined. The English Premier League rights sold for $145 million for three seasons (2013-2016) but only $65 million for 2025-2028. La Liga has no major takers in India.

FIFA appears increasingly concerned that weak broadcaster interest in India could hurt both revenues and its long-term ambition to grow football in one of the world’s largest media markets.

In New Delhi, the High Court is hearing a plea over the lack of a broadcast deal and has sought responses from the information and broadcasting ministry and Doordarshan, India’s state-owned public broadcaster.

“Without timely judicial intervention by this court, the petitioner and millions of Indian citizens will be irreparably deprived of their fundamental rights with no adequate alternative remedy,” the petitioner, a lawyer and football fan, said in the plea.

He claims missing the tournament violates constitutional protections of freedom of speech.

“It is important to note that by denying access to the information in question or by not taking necessary steps to broadcast the FIFA World Cup, the respondents have directly infringed the petitioner’s fundamental right to acquire and receive information, which is an integral part of freedom of speech and expression under the constitution,” the petitioner argued.

China’s state broadcaster signed a late World Cup deal with FIFA last week, offering hope for Indian fans. But if no deal is reached, attention turns to Doordarshan, which last broadcast the tournament in 1998.

The ongoing uncertainty is dampening enthusiasm. “I’m heartbroken that we will not have any reliable way to watch the World Cup this year,” said Banerjee, the Messi fan from Kolkata.

“But we will tune to pirated streams anyway,” he added. “No one can stop that.”