What happens to ARD and ZDF?
Telekom secures rights for all World Cup games
Updated on May 23, 2025 – 10:37 a.m.Reading time: 1 min.
A few days ago, Telekom’s plans for the 2026 World Cup had leaked through. Now the deal is official.
Telekom has acquired an extensive TV right-wing package from the FIFA World Federation Association. The heart of the package: The games of the men’s World Cup 2026. All 104 games of the XXL tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico are thus transferred exclusively from the MagentaV payment offer.
But that’s not a novelty. At home European Championships 2024, Telekom also had the rights to all games and subsequently subordinated sublicens with the public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, which then showed a large part of the games.
This time Telekom has to ensure that not all games disappear behind a payment barrier. The Broadcasting Treaty stipulates that all games of the German team, the opening game as well as the semi -finals and the final on freely received television are broadcast at World Championships.
In addition, Telekom acquired the TV rights at the Women’s World Cup 2027 in Brazil and the Men’s U20 World Championships in 2025 and 2027. “We are pleased that we have succeeded in this coup,” said Wolfgang Metze, the managing director of private customers at Telekom.