RT secures exclusive free-to-air Irish rights to the 2030 FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup Final sets new RT Player record as the most-streamed single event in the platform's history

Over 1 million viewers watched live on RT 2 as Spain were crowned the 2026 FIFA World Cup champions

Following the success of RT 's coverage across television, streaming, radio and digital platforms, RT has announced that it has secured the exclusive Irish free-to-air rights to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted across Spain, Portugal and Morocco with three centenary games to be held in South America.

Football fans across Ireland tuned into RT 's coverage of the FIFA World Cup as Spain edged out Argentina to be crowned 2026 FIFA World Cup champions.

The final generated over 1.4 million streams on RT Player, making it the most-streamed single event in the platform's history. Across the tournament as a whole, audiences generated 23.4 million streams. This is an increase of almost 15 million streams and nearly three times the audience achieved during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which recorded 8.5 million streams.

The top-performing matches of the tournament were Spain v Argentina (average audience of 1 million, 65% share on RT 2, and 1.4 million streams on RT Player), England v Argentina (average audience 949k, 60% share on RT 2, and 1 million streams on RT Player) France v Spain (average audience of 873k, 61% share on RT 2, and 1 million streams on RT Player) and England v Norway (average audience of 787k, 72% share on RT 2, and 1 million streams on RT Player).

Kevin Bakhurst, Director General, RT said:

We are delighted that RT has been successful in securing rights to the 2030 FIFA World Cup for Irish audiences after what has been a very successful 2026 World Cup with record numbers of people enjoying RT 's coverage.

From the first game through to the final, audiences have come to RT in large numbers for our coverage and analysis of every single game, but also for our World Cup highlights on RT Player and YouTube, our podcasts, Up all Night on RT Player and more.

The huge number of streams on RT Player throughout the tournament has been one of our big success stories this year and has highlighted the value of our investment in the service in recent years. We look forward to bringing the next FIFA World Cup to Irish audiences, including the Republic of Ireland's qualification campaign which we hope will be successful.

Live sport free to air continues to provide national moments and conversations enjoyment and entertainment to Irish audiences paid for by your Licence Fee, public funding and commercial revenue.

Declan McBennett, Head of Sport at RT , said:

Yesterday was a memorable day for RT Sport, with the All-Ireland Hurling Final and the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final bringing an exciting day of live sport to audiences. More broadly, it has been an exceptional month of sporting coverage, including RT 's most extensive FIFA World Cup broadcast operation to date, delivering all 104 matches with a uniquely Irish overview.

The strong response across television, RT Player, digital and social platforms reflect the enduring appetite for live sport in Ireland. We look forward to bringing audiences more major sporting moments in the years ahead as part of RT 's public service remit, including the FIFA World Cup in 2030.

Throughout the tournament on RT Sport Online and on RT Sport social channels, there are 91 million video views across all social platforms to date. This includes over 6.8 million views of highlights and analysis on the RT Sport YouTube channel.

With so many kick-offs late at night and in the early hours of the morning, highlights of the tournament generated 1.6m streams on RT Player, while other FIFA World Cup content including unseen moments, clips and Up All Night added 345k additional streams on the platform.

In addition to television and digital coverage, football fans could follow the latest news, analysis and reaction from the tournament on Inside Sport, Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport on RT Radio 1, alongside extensive coverage across RT Radio 1 and RT 2FM programming throughout the tournament.

As Ireland's official FIFA World Cup broadcaster, RT was one of a small number of public service media organisations which provided comprehensive free-to-air coverage of the tournament across television, radio and digital platforms, ensuring audiences were able to follow every moment of the world's biggest sporting event wherever and whenever it suited them.

RT 's coverage of the FIFA World Cup is sponsored by Heineken 0.0.

ENDS

Caoilinn Putti, RT Communications

LINK:	https://about.rte.ie/2026/07/20/rte-secures-exclusive-free-to-air-iris...
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