NOS, the public-service broadcaster in the Netherlands, will remain the domestic home of the FIFA World Cup national team soccer tournament for the next two editions.
A deal with the game’s global governing body FIFA, unveiled yesterday, entails NOS retaining World Cup rights for both the 2026 edition (across Mexico, the US, and Canada), and the 2030 tournament (to be staged in six countries overall).
NOS will cover those two tournaments via linear TV, online streaming, and radio.
The media rights tender for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups in the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) was issued on January 18, with a mid-February deadline.
The 2022 edition (also covered by NOS) saw the Netherlands national team progress to the quarter-finals before getting knocked out on penalties by eventual champions Argentina.
The 2030 edition will be held across Spain, Portugal, and Morocco (the main trio of hosts), while one game each will take place in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
In terms of NOS’ other top-tier national team soccer rights, the public-service broadcaster also covered the UEFA European Championships (in which the Netherlands reached the semi-final) earlier this year. GlobalData estimated NOS as paying $37.5m for the rights to that tournament.
Domestic live rights to the top-tier Eredivisie league in the Netherlands, however, are held by ESPN, with NOS showing highlights.
2026 World Cup rights, meanwhile, were unveiled in Albania in mid-July by TV Klan.
In mid-June, it was announced that the governing body would be selling its media rights to the 2026 World Cup directly in the Asian market for the first time under a new strategy.
