The 2026 FIFA World Cup is now less than a month away, with supporters across the globe preparing for football’s biggest tournament.
The competition will take place across the United States, Canada and Mexico and is expected to attract record global audiences.
Fans worldwide are waiting to watch stars like Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo compete on the biggest stage in football.
However, one major country could still miss the tournament completely because of an ongoing broadcasting dispute.
FIFA are currently struggling to secure an official television agreement in India ahead of the World Cup.
According to Reuters, negotiations between FIFA and India’s biggest media companies recently collapsed because of a huge disagreement over broadcasting rights valuations.
The report claims FIFA initially demanded close to $100 million for the rights package.
Meanwhile, Reliance-Disney reportedly valued the tournament much lower and only wanted to pay around $20 million.
FIFA later reduced their asking price to around $60 million. However, negotiations still failed to produce an agreement.
The situation could leave as many as 1.5 billion people without an official broadcaster for the World Cup. Reuters also reported that media giant Sony decided not to enter negotiations at all.
FIFA delegates reportedly remain inside India trying to rescue discussions before the tournament begins. A similar problem also emerged recently in China.
According to reports, FIFA initially requested around $300 million for World Cup broadcasting rights there before eventually lowering the figure significantly to secure an agreement.
Although football is not the dominant sport in India, the country still represents one of the world’s largest football audiences.
The country also generated almost three percent of global television reach during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Now, with time running out before the opening match, FIFA face growing pressure to secure a deal and avoid millions of supporters missing the World Cup entirely.
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