By David Latona
Oct 13 (Reuters) – Netflix said on Tuesday it had secured the rights to broadcast the 2030 World Cup in Spain, which is co-hosting the tournament, and Andorra.
It would be Netflix’s first broadcast of a major men’s international tournament in Spain, the company said. The 2026 World Cup was aired there by national channel TVE.
California-based Netflix did not disclose financial terms.
Under the deal, one game per matchday will be free to watch in Spain. Netflix will also offer a national free-to-air channel which will broadcast a package of matches that includes all of Spain’s games, both semi-finals and the final.
Netflix did not name the channel.
TVE declined to comment on whether it would be interested in purchasing a package of matches.
Spain, which won the World Cup in North America this year, will co-host the 2030 edition with Portugal and Morocco, although Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will stage inaugural matches marking the tournament’s 100th anniversary.
Uruguay hosted the first World Cup in 1930.
Spain’s state-owned television network TVE broadcast the Spanish national team’s matches during this year’s tournament, while private platform DAZN, which distributed Mediapro’s pay-TV World Cup channel, showed all 104 games.
Netflix holds the rights in the US and Canada for the 2027 Women’s World Cup being hosted by Brazil and the 2031 edition being staged jointly by Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and the US.
The deal in Spain is more evidence of Netflix’s push into the sports broadcasting world, with NFL, MLB, WWE, boxing and MMA all appearing on the streaming platform.
(Reporting by Ruairidh Barlow; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Ken Ferris)
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