FIFA has announced that it has opened two separate tender processes for the media rights to the FIFA World Cup 2026 and FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
With qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 2026 having commenced in Africa this month, entities in Sub-Saharan Africa are now invited to put forward their proposals to obtain the media rights for the tournament, which will be hosted in Canada, Mexico, and the USA. The 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup will follow a new format, with a record 104 matches and double the number of knock-out stage matches.
With the tournament expanding to include a record 48 nations in 2026, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will have a guaranteed nine representatives at the next FIFA World Cup. There also remains the possibility of a tenth African side sealing a place at the tournament, with one African nation guaranteed to advance to FIFA intercontinental play-off tournament.
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ was the best FIFA World Cup ever for African teams. Morocco made history by becoming the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the tournament, Senegal advanced to the round of 16, while Cameroon, Ghana, and Tunisia each recorded group stage wins.
Interested parties are also invited to submit their proposals to broadcast the tenth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027. The host(s) of the FIFA World Cup 2027 will be decided on 17 May 2024 by the FIFA Congress.
African teams made their mark on this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup held in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with three of Africa’s four representatives advancing to the knockout phase and all four winning a match for the first time in history. With the tournament having expanded to feature 32 teams in the group stage from 2023 onwards, African nations will continue to have strong representation at the FIFA Women’s World Cup as women’s football continues to grow.
Entities wishing to participate in either or both of the tender processes can request the invitations to tender (ITTs) by emailing SubSaharaMediaRights@fifa.org.
The bid submission deadline in each case is 11:00 CET on Wednesday, 13 December 2023.
Through the sale of media rights for its tournaments, FIFA generates income which is essential to support and develop football around the world, including through the FIFA Forward Development Programme.
