Youku, the video streaming platform owned by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, has acquired rights to the 2018 Fifa World Cup.
Under a sublicensing deal with the national team football tournament’s rights holder in China, state broadcaster CCTV, Youku will live stream 64 matches as well as providing additional content surrounding the event, which kicks off in Russia on June 14.
CCTV extended its rights deal with Fifa, football’s world governing body, in November. The deal granted CCTV the exclusive media rights in China for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, as well as all of Fifa’s other major international competitions until 2022, including France’s 2019 Women’s World Cup.
CCTV acquired all media rights, across all platforms, including live, delayed and highlights rights.