Ireland failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, but did make it to the 2018 edition. (Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)

Global soccer’s governing body FIFA has begun a tender process covering media rights to the 2026 and 2030 editions of its men’s national teams World Cup, in Ireland.

The tender covers both editions of the iconic tournament – the 2026 World Cup will take place across Mexico, the US, and Canada, while the 2030 edition will predominantly be held in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. In addition, three games from that World Cup will be staged in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay.

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Interested parties should contact ireland-media-rights@fifa.org to obtain the relevant invitation to tender (ITT) documents, while the deadline for bid submissions is 11:00 Central European Time on November 5.

The 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar was covered in Ireland solely (in terms of live action) by public-service broadcaster RTE. That network – which is the event’s long-term home in Ireland – struck a deal covering both the 2018 and 2022 editions as early as 2012.

The European qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup begin next March, with a total of 16 slots at the expanded 48-team tournament available for European sides.

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Ireland failed to qualify for both the Qatar tournament and the 2018 edition in Russia.

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RTE also covered the UEFA European Championship national team tournament earlier this year (for which Ireland did not qualify either).

That deal has been valued by GlobalData Sport as worth €6.5 million ($7.17 million at the time).

In terms of recent media rights agreements for the next World Cup, meanwhile, in mid-September Dutch public-service broadcaster NOS was announced as the 2026 and 2030 rights holder in the Netherlands.

For the tender process, June saw FIFA announce that it would be selling its media rights directly in the Asian market for the first time under a new strategy.

Previously, rights were sold on behalf of FIFA by the sports marketing heavyweight Infront – which is now being used solely in an advisory capacity.