FIFA World Cup 2026: Zee Secures India Broadcast Deal Days Before Kickoff

The FIFA World Cup 2026 will finally be broadcast live in India after FIFA finalised a long-term media rights deal with the Z Group on Monday. The broadcast deal, announced just 10 days before the tournament begins on June 11, has secured television and digital broadcast rights for football’s biggest event as well as a host of other FIFA competitions through 2034.

This year’s FIFA World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, will be shown live on television on Zee Entertainment’s newly launched Unite8 Sports network channels. Live streaming of the tournament will be available on the Zee5 platform.

“FIFA has reached an agreement with ‘Z’ to broadcast and distribute a wide portfolio of FIFA competitions in India from 2026 to 2034, including the FIFA World Cup 2026, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 and the FIFA World Cup 2030,” a press release said, “ensuring that top-level football will be widely available to audiences in one of the sport’s most significant growth markets.”

The agreement between Zee and FIFA – which was finalised following the reported breakdown of talks with JioStar – ensured that Indian fans would have access to multi-language coverage of the FIFA tournaments.

Besides the upcoming World Cup, the deal also includes the FIFA World Cup 2030, which will be co-hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain, with centenary celebration matches scheduled in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

In total, Zee will broadcast 39 FIFA events during the agreement period. In addition to the flagship events, the deal also includes the FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup, FIFA Women's U-20 World Cup, FIFA Futsal World Cups, and FIFA Intercontinental Cup.

Zee will also have access to documentary content related to FIFA competitions.