FIFA World Cup Trophy (Getty Images)
Hyderabad: India’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises has announced that they are in talks with FIFA to secure the broadcasting rights in India for the World Cup 2026 starting from June 11. The company issued a statement confirming the same on Tuesday. The moves come at a significant moment for the Indian football fans, considering that the talks between FIFA and the Reliance-Disney joint venture are currently at a deadlock, with the tournament set to start in a few days.
“With an aim to build a competitive sports content offering, the Company is also in talks with Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to broadcast and stream the FIFA World Cup 2026 matches in India,” the company said in the statement.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Z) has announced the launch of Unite8 Sports, a dedicated portfolio of sports channels. Four dedicated sports channels are being launched.
” the company is in talks with fifa to broadcast and stream the fifa world cup 2026 matches in india.”<=”” p>— marcus mergulhao (@marcusmergulhao) May 26, 2026
According to a report by Reuters, FIFA had initially expected to get $100 million for the India rights package, which included the 2026 and 2030 editions as well. However, the global football body then lowered their expectation to $60 million for the deal.
The report from Reuters also mentions that the number of bids from Zee remains higher than the reported $20 million offer made by the Reliance-Disney venture, led by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.
Japan’s Sony Group Corporation also initially planned to explore the possibility of bidding for the broadcasting rights in India, but chose not to make an offer eventually.
Breaking News: India’s Zee Entertainment confirms it is in talks with FIFA to strike a deal to broadcast and stream World Cup 2026 matches. Discussions come after Reliance-led JioStar and FIFA disagreed on pricing and no deal was struck pic.twitter.com/jNlCkFiXpL
— Aditya Kalra (@adityakalra) May 26, 2026
Zee revealed about their discussion with FIFA during the launch of their new sports channels named “Unite8 Sports”, which the company said would strengthen their coverage in sports and would also expand the reach amongst the Indian audiences. Company will launch four dedicated sports channels – Unite8 Sports 1, Unite8 Sports 1 HD in Hindi and Unite8 Sports 2, Unite8 Sports 2 HD in English.
FIFA had previously revealed that it had already been distributed across 180 countries. Notably, India accounted for 2.9 per cent of the global television reach for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
If Zee secures the rights to the event, the uncertainty over the broadcast of the event in the country will be over, and the Indian football fans will get to see the matches.
The 2026 edition will be the first where a total of 48 teams will participate and 104 matches will be played. The 2022 World Cup, which was won by Argentina, was streamed in India on JioCinema and broadcast on Sports18.