You might be watching the World Cup in a very different way this year... free on YouTube

YouTube has announced that it's a preferred platform for the FIFA World Cup 2026. The aim of the partnership is to expand access, allowing plenty of World Cup action to find its way onto YouTube for global viewing.

The meat of the agreement covers two areas – first, media partners will be able to live stream the first 10 minutes of every match on their YouTube channels. That will mean fans can watch the start of these games, presumably before deciding if they'll go off and watch the entire thing elsewhere.

The second part is the option to broadcast entire matches on YouTube. That will see media partners able to show the full games, but only for a select number of matches.

And finally – although this doesn't appear to be as critical as the other elements - is that there will be a "robust library" of match footage for extended highlights, behind-the-scenes and more, so media partners can create more content to show on YouTube.

That should mean that access is more universal, with more ways to watch the matches rather than just through traditional sports broadcasting on television. It will mean that more people can watch on their phones, with World Cup content potentially flooding YouTube.

In the UK, BBC and ITV will broadcast World Cup matches from 11 June 2026 when the tournament starts, but will find themselves facing stiffer competition from YouTube. While regular linear broadcast will give a predictable experience, YouTube could come up with something different.

The agreement reinforces the changing landscape of media consumption, building on other recent landmark agreements, like the Oscars moving to YouTube from 2029.

While the arrangement of something like the Oscars is likely to remain similar to the current production, for the World Cup there are many more strands and a lot more opportunities for bespoke content creation.

While watching the entire match is still likely to be dominated by traditional channels, media partners will be able to engage with viewers in more exciting ways – and it should mean that the global festival of football is better than ever.