In the middle of the show
ZDF interrupts the broadcast of the World Cup draw
Updated 12/5/2025 – 8:22 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The football world is watching the World Cup draw in Washington. The broadcast on ZDF is suddenly interrupted. The spectators are not happy.
FIFA is staging the draw for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA on a large scale. ZDF broadcasts the program live and then suddenly switches off after about 45 minutes. Instead of US President Donald Trump and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, there is the “today” news.
After around ten minutes, ZDF switches back to Washington. In the meantime, the broadcast continued in the live stream. Live TV viewers didn’t miss any of the actual draws, but they were still upset.
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On the short message service X, viewers express their dissatisfaction. “Outrageous from Fifa. A World Cup draw during the ZDF news,” reads one comment. Another user writes: “The cup is brought and the guest countries introduce themselves. But ZDF brings advertising and ‘today’ news that no one cares about or that you could have watched on the stream.”
Germany will face Ecuador, Ivory Coast and Curaçao in Group E at the 2026 World Cup. The World Cup opens with the game between co-hosts Mexico and South Africa on June 11, 2026.
For national coach Julian Nagelsmann and his team, the hot phase begins at the beginning of June. The German national team will meet the USA in Chicago on June 6th for a World Cup dress rehearsal. The team then moves to its base camp. There the DFB stars are preparing for the start of the tournament on June 14th, when the team has to play against the clear outsiders Curaçao.