The 2022 FIFA World Cup is almost upon us and promises to be a feast of football. Not so long ago, unless you were in the host country, the only option was to watch it on TV. Now there is also the option of accessing a World Cup Live Stream, giving you the ability to watch on a computer, phone or tablet, wherever you are. The tournament’s broadcast rights are granted to major media companies that serve different countries globally. We’re going to reveal which of these broadcasters will be streaming the competition and where you can find streams for free. With the tournament also set to be a significant betting event, here are some of our favourite World Cup bookmakers that offer live streaming services.
How to enjoy Free World Cup Live Streaming
The World Cup will be covered extensively by bookmakers with live streaming, but they won’t be showing the tournament itself. With free live streaming from broadcasters available in most countries, that’s not a problem. Bookmakers will, however, show pre-tournament international friendlies and club football, which will help you assess your wagers. You can be sure that our recommended bookies for free live streaming are reliable and a better option than potentially harmful illegal streams or expensive subscription channels that might not even show the game you want.
How To Live Stream World Cup from the United Kingdom
Every game will be available to either watch on TV or stream live. As we’ve stated, the major UK bookies won’t be covering the tournament, with the WC only being shown by traditional broadcast companies. You can watch all the games on TV and online, such as through the broadcasters’ websites and apps. So whether you’re at home or out, you’ll be able to keep up with the action, monitor existing bets and place in-play ones. The broadcasters that will cover the tournament in the UK are the BBC and ITV. They will share all the games evenly between them, including any matches involving England or Wales, until the World Cup final, which they will both show.
How To Live Stream World Cup from Australia
If you’re in Australia and looking to stream the World Cup, you’ll be pleased to know that it will be straightforward. Again, bookmakers that generally show live football streams in Australia will not have the rights to show games. As is the case in almost every territory, the rights have gone to a traditional broadcaster that can offer every World Cup game on their TV channels while providing a live stream option for those who prefer that method. The Australian host in question is SBS. The public service broadcaster will show matches on their TV channels and provide FIFA World Cup Live Streaming through their website and app.
How To Live Stream World Cup from India
Unlike many countries, where the rights are guaranteed by government legislation to be given to a free-to-air broadcaster, there will be no free World Cup Live Streaming in India. Instead, the coverage will come from the pay-TV channels of Sports18. They will be the sole broadcasters, available to stream through Voot and Jio TV.
Where can you watch the FIFA World Cup
Different countries have their own broadcasters who have been selected by FIFA to show the tournament. Some will provide a World Cup Live Stream for Free, while others will keep it behind a paywall. Here is a selection of countries and their chosen broadcasters.
Country | Broadcaster | Country | Broadcaster |
Canada | Bell Media | Cyprus | CyBX |
Finland | Yle and MTV3 | France | TF1 and beIN Sports |
Germany | ARD, ZDF and Deutsche Telekom | Greece | ANT1 |
Ireland | RTE | Norway | NRK and TV 2 |
Poland | TVP | Portugal | RTP |
South Africa | SuperSport, SABC and StarTimes | Sweden | SVT and TV4 |
Switzerland | SRG and SSR | USA | Fox and Telemundo |
How to watch World Cup Live Stream for Free
Most bookmakers will not offer live streaming for the World Cup, with all the broadcast rights being given to one or two established media companies per country. Sites will be limited to showing the scores and, in most cases, providing an animated display roughly indicating what is going on in the match. Of course, you will be able to use bookies to bet on the World Cup, just as long as you live somewhere where online gambling is allowed. Most countries will also have a legal solution that helps them to Live Stream World Cup games, providing that the chosen broadcasters have a facility such as a website or dedicated app which enables streaming.
That means that most people won’t have to resort to using illegal streams, which can be unreliable, feature annoying pop-ups and can infect your device with malicious software. When it comes to fixtures before the tournament, such as friendly internationals and club games, many will be available to stream through bookies. With some sportsbooks, you’ll need to have placed a bet within the last 24 hours or have a positive account balance to stream the match.
Safe & free World Cup live streaming alternatives
You might be in a territory where it’s difficult to find a safe live stream provider. A VPN can be a relatively cheap investment that provides an alternate IP address, which could open up the possibility to safely Live Stream World Cup games. Should you wish to use a bookmaker to stream a game pre-tournament but are in a region that doesn’t legally allow online gambling yet also doesn’t enforce that law, then using a VPN could be a sensible precaution. See below for a complete list of bookmakers with live streaming.
Bookmakers will not be able to show any live streams of World Cup games, as the broadcast rights for each country are allocated to traditional media companies. You will be able to find pre-tournament international friendlies and club games being live-streamed by bookies.
One of the stipulations set by FIFA when they grant the broadcast rights to each country is that every World Cup game must be shown. So the chosen broadcaster(s) in your area will be live streaming every World Cup match.
Many countries have government legislation stating that the World Cup must be shown by free-to-air, terrestrial broadcasters. In other countries where this is not a rule, the rights are sold to subscription channels. The rights are expensive and require the games to be shown on TV and streamed.
There are a lot of downsides to watching the World Cup on illegal live streaming sites. The streams are unreliable and can break down at a crucial time of the game, while there are also annoying pop-ups to deal with. You also run the risk of picking up malicious software.