BBC And ITV Secure Rights To Women’s World Cup
Free-to-air broadcasters BBC and ITV have announced a new agreement with FIFA to broadcast the Women’s World Cup, just weeks before the tournament was due to kick off.
The deal comes just two weeks after the sports ministers of five European countries came together to urge broadcasters and FIFA to ‘quickly reach an agreement’ on the then unsold Women’s World Cup TV rights, with a European television blackout threatened.
But with just 35 days until the tournament kicks-off, the parties have reached a solution.
All 64 matches from the tournament, which starts in Auckland on 20th July, will be broadcast free-to-air in the UK on either the BBC or ITV, except for the final, which will be shown across both BBC One and ITV1.
Additionally, the BBC has secured the audio commentary rights. This allows fans to tune into the tournament on BBC 5 Live and all other audio platforms including the BBC Sport website.
Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, said, “We have shown every Women’s World Cup on the BBC since 1999 and we are happy to extend our partnership with FIFA for the upcoming tournament. The growth of the women’s game is extraordinary, demonstrated by the 28 million who watched BBC coverage of the 2019 Women’s World Cup and the huge audience of 17.4 million who watched our coverage of the Euro 2022 final on TV last summer.
“In partnership with ITV we are delighted to make this World Cup available to the widest possible audience and free to air.”
Niall Sloane, Director of Sport at ITV, added, “We’re delighted to be able to bring comprehensive coverage of the Women’s World Cup, free to air to our audiences with both live and highlights broadcasts across ITV and ITVX. This tournament promises to provide memorable moments with the popularity of women’s football continuing to grow.
“England’s Lionesses are entering the World Cup Finals as European champions and fans have been able to follow their progress to qualification on ITV through our coverage of the World Cup qualifiers, so we hope they’ll join us to see all the action from Australia and New Zealand throughout the tournament.”
