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FIFA announced the extension of its broadcast rights agreement with Al Jazeera Sport for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia and the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar. The agreement came few weeks after announcing the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup. Al Jazeera Sport, which covers 23 territories and countries along the Middle East and Northern part of Africa, for the first time bagged the license in 2009 to broadcast the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
The Qatar based TV channel, which covers cable, satellite, terrestrial, mobile and broadband internet transmission, will also broadcast the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. And with this extension, the channel can now tailor its programming over three consecutive FIFA World Cups. “Al Jazeera Sport has committed to unprecedented presence and production levels from the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil onwards, including free TV coverage as agreed between the two parties and in line with FIFA distribution policies”, reports the Official FIFA Website.
Moreover, Al Jazeera Sport has made a commitment to FIFA that the matches of the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be widely accessible for football fans across the Middle East and North Africa.
“Al Jazeera Sport more than proved its commitment to delivering high-calibre coverage to football fans during the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. FIFA’s aim is to make the World Cup as accessible to as many people around the world as possible – and for this we thankfully have an immensely strong partner in Al Jazeera Sport for the Middle East and North Africa,” said Jérôme Valcke, FIFA Secretary General to fifa.com.
Also speaking about the development was Nasser Al Khelaifi, General Manager of Al Jazeera Sport, who said, “We are very excited about this deal as it is great news for football fans throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa who will now be guaranteed the very best programming of the world’s most followed sports event”.
The territories covered by this agreement are: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen and the territory of Palestine.
