December 23 – FIFA and Netflix have inked a deal for the exclusive rights in the US to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups, marking another significant streaming deal for a major tournament.
Late last week, the world governing body announced the deal with the streaming giant but didn’t disclose a value. FIFA said that, “the agreement includes Puerto Rico and covers all languages, with top-tier talent poised to feature in a dual telecast for both English – and Spanish-language broadcasts in the US.”
Netflix have scored big with a number of football documentaries and have begun to build a live-streamed portfolio in the US with a three-year deal for NFL Christmas Day games starting this week. In January Netflix begins a 10-year, $5 billion deal for WWE’s flagship weekly Raw.
The US Women’s team will go into the 2027 World Cup as Olympic Champions and one of the favourites for the title they won in 2019 in France.
“This is a landmark moment for sports media rights,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
“As a marquee brand and FIFA’s new long-term partner, Netflix has shown a very strong level of commitment to growing women’s football.
“This agreement sends a strong message about the real value of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the global women’s game. FIFA and Netflix partnering together makes this a truly historic day for broadcasting and for women’s football.”
World Cups are typically broadcast on free-to-air public networks, but the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand suffered from a lack of visibility and accessibility in the host nations with the lion’s share of broadcasts on pay TV.
Major European broadcasters had offered little for the rights which FIFA had for the first time unbundled from the men’s World Cup and led FIFA boss Infantino to threaten a blackout in major European markets before a deal was reached.
The Netflix agreement represents a blow to Fox, FIFA’s long-time partner in the United States.
With no provision to sublicense the rights in the Netflix deal, the next two editions of the Women’s World Cup run the risk of lacking exposure and viewership, but FIFA said that “the 2027 and 2031 editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup are poised to reach even greater audiences and to set new benchmarks in terms of US engagement.”
The United States are weighing up a bid for the hosting of the 2031 tournament after they withdrew from the 2027 bidding race. In three years’ time, Brazil and South America will welcome the Women’s World Cup for the first time after defeating a European triumvirate to land the hosting rights.
It’s the second agreement with a major streamer in a matter of weeks after FIFA signed up DAZN for the 2025 Club World Cup. FIFA had previously walked away from a potential deal with tech giant Apple.
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