ARD and ZDF retain World Cup rights

German public-service broadcasters ARD and ZDF have acquired rights for the 2022 Fifa World Cup national football team tournament, which is scheduled to take place in Qatar.

The award of the rights was confirmed in a brief statement by Fifa, which said that its finance committee had ratified the deal.

ARD and ZDF already had rights for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups in Brazil and Russia, respectively.

Unlike previous editions of the tournament, ARD and ZDF has not agreed any sublicensing deals with other broadcasters for the 2014 World Cup, which begins this Thursday.