Media rights tenders covering the next two FIFA World Cup national team soccer tournaments - one men’s and one women’s edition - have now gone live in Hong Kong.

The two invitations to tender were officially launched there yesterday (January 16), covering the men’s World Cup in 2026 (Mexico, the US, and China), and the Women’s World Cup in 2027 (Brazil).

The deadline for bids to be submitted is 10:00 am, Central European Time, on February 25, and the tender documents can be requested by contacting hongkong-media-rights@fifa.org.

The previous men’s World Cup, the 2022 edition in Qatar, was shown live in Hong Kong by pay-TV broadcaster Now TV (which bought rights from the Infront agency), as was the women’s 2023 tournament - held across Australia and New Zealand, so in a favorable timezone for Hong Kong audiences.

Neither the men's or women's representative Hong Kong teams have ever qualified for a FIFA World Cup.

This process has got underway hot on the heels of a tender for the 2026 and 2030 men’s tournaments going live in Spain, earlier this week.

A tender covering the next three World Cups - two men’s, one women’s - began in Germany earlier in January, meanwhile.

In terms of recently-announced deals, meanwhile, December saw the BBC and ITV retain men’s World Cup rights in the UK, while Netflix made waves by securing rights in the US to the 2027 and 2031 women’s tournaments.