The European Broadcasting Union, the consortium of public-service broadcasters, has acquired the exclusive media rights in 37 European territories to the Fifa World Cups of 2018 and 2022. However, the deal represents only a partial success for the consortium – it has not been awarded the rights in the key territories of Germany, Italy and Scandinavia.
In December, Fifa, world football’s governing body, made the rights available across Europe but kept back the markets of the UK, Spain, Russia, France and Finland for a separate negotiation process, which has yet to take place. The new deal means, therefore, that the EBU does not have the rights in any of Europe’s top five television markets.
For the rights that were available, the EBU was expected to face strong competition in Germany and Italy from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns the Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia pay-television platforms, and from private groups like Bonnier and Modern Times Group in Scandinavia.
The outcome is similar to the EBU’s deal for the rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, which exclude the top five markets and Scandinavia. The rights in those markets were sold by Fifa directly to broadcasters in a series of separate deals.
EBU president Jean-Paul Philippot said: “We are honoured and proud that Fifa has placed its complete trust in the EBU and its participating members for the 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cups’ broadcast coverage. This contract is a humbling compliment, and testament to the EBU’s reputation as an ideal partner in the sports media rights industry.”
The countries covered by the deal are: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine.