Zee Secures FIFA Media Rights for India

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (Z) entered into a partnership with FIFA for the broadcast of 39 global football events in India from 2026 to 2034, which includes the FIFA World Cup 2026™, FIFA World Cup 2030™, & FIFA Women’s World Cup™ 2027 along with the flagship women’s and men’s World Cup Tournaments which include the FIFA U-17 World Cup™, FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup™, FIFA U-20 World Cup™, FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup™, FIFA Futsal World Cups and the FIFA Intercontinental Cup™.

The agreement also represents FIFA’s first broadcast partnership with Zee in the Indian market. The rights package further includes documentary content relating to the covered FIFA competitions.

The FIFA World Cup 2026™ will be the first tournament to be broadcast under the partnership, which is scheduled to be held from 11 June to 19 July 2026 across the United States, Canada and Mexico. There will totally be 104 matches, which will be played across 16 cities.

According to news reports, the development got successful after 10 months of efforts by FIFA for securing a broadcast partner in the Indian Market after negotiations with the previous rights holder JioStar reportedly failed over valuation. The estimated deal value will exceed $40 million for the two tournaments, with a larger share of the value attributed to the 2030 edition, to be hosted by Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

FIFA stated that the partnership will expand the reach of FIFA competitions and engage fans across India through broad, multi-platform distribution. The Indian market is driven by a young and passionate football audience, which is a strategically important market for FIFA and the partnership with Zee’s multi-platform distribution network would help broaden access to football content across the country.

The coverage will be distributed through ‘Z’’s linear television channels (UNITE8 Sports) and digital platform (Zee 5), with multi-language coverage designed to increase accessibility and fan engagement across India, including for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

In addition to live tournament coverage, the agreement includes rights to documentary content connected with the FIFA competitions. The content will be made available across multiple languages and will expand the reach of football in India and support audience engagement with FIFA competitions.

Further, the company has announced the launch of 4 dedicated sports channels, namely, Unite8 Sports 1, Unite8 Sports 1 HD, Unite8 Sports 2, and Unite8 Sports 2 HD. The acquisition also marks Zee’s return to sports broadcasting nearly eight years after it exited the sector.

On May 12, 2026, the Delhi High Court in Avdhesh Bairwa v. Union of India & Ors. [W.P. (C) 6469/2026] issued notice on a plea seeking directions to the Union Government and Prasar Bharati to ensure that the FIFA World Cup 2026 is broadcast in India through free-to-air public broadcasting platforms like Doordarshan and DD Sports. The petition relied upon the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s notification dated May 9, 2022, which classified the FIFA World Cup as a “sporting event of national importance” under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007.

Thereafter, on May 20, 2026, Prasar Bharati informed the Delhi High Court that it was under no obligation to acquire the broadcast rights for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and that responsibility for acquiring such rights did not rest with the public broadcaster. Following the submission, the petitioner sought permission to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to pursue other remedies, and the Court dismissed the matter as withdrawn.