Netflix Inc. is dishing out US$200 million for broadcast rights to next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup , according to people familiar with the deal who weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the details.
The streaming service had already announced that it acquired the rights to show matches in the United States and Canada for both the 2027 and 2031 tournaments.
Netflix declined to comment. FIFA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
FIFA has been trying to boost the monetization of its tournaments. The latest push includes a plan to place its commercial interests in an entity and sell off stakes to investors. The backlash to such a move has spanned politicians to UEFA, the governing body of European football.
SportsBusiness Media previously reported on Netflix’s deal for the women’s World Cup , including that the streamer paid US$400 million combined for the 2027 and 2031 tournaments.
For the 2023 Women’s World Cup, FIFA separately sold the tournament’s rights for the first time as interest in women’s sports boomed. FIFA’s annual report for that year showed broadcast rights revenue of roughly US$270 million, which would include media deals for the Women’s World Cup for all markets.
The price Netflix is paying for the 2027 tournament, which will be held in Brazil , makes this one of the biggest media deals on annual basis for a women’s sports property. The WNBA’s 11-year US$3.1 billion deal is considered the largest and works out to be about US$280 million a year.
For the 2026 Men’s World Cup, Fox paid about US$485 million for the U.S. broadcast rights.
FIFA expects to double revenue for next year’s Women’s World Cup to about US$1 billion, FIFA chief football officer Jill Ellis said on an episode of The Deal in June.
In 2023, FIFA president Gianni Infantino asked broadcasters to pay a fair price for the media rights for the Women’s World Cup and criticized bids as being too low.
Infantino threatened TV blackouts in European markets in 2023 because broadcasters were refusing to pay more. The European Broadcasting Union finalized an agreement with FIFA just weeks before the tournament kicked off.
The European Broadcasting Union and FIFA have already reached a deal, across 19 public-service broadcasters, to deliver games for the 2027 Women’s World Cup. Financial details haven’t been disclosed.