Dazn signs exclusive option for global streaming of 2029 men’s Club World Cup
On 2 November 2026, Dazn reached an exclusive option with Fifa for global streaming rights to the men's 2029 Club World Cup. The move extends the Saudi-backed streamer’s commercial ties with Fifa.
Dazn previously agreed to pay $1bn for global rights to the 2025 Club World Cup, stepping in after many linear broadcasters and other streamers declined to bid ahead of the inaugural 32-team tournament in the United States last year. Apple TV had held talks with Fifa over a global streaming deal for 2025 but withdrew owing to a disagreement over valuation, and Fifa’s subsequent attempt to sell the rights on a regional basis foundered. Dazn’s surprise late bid was facilitated by the purchase of a 10% stake in the company by Saudi’s Surj Sports Investment group and, in effect, bankrolled Fifa’s $1bn (£745m) prize fund, with winners Chelsea taking home about $114m (£85m).
The company remains loss-making despite reporting more than 300 million subscribers, with its 2025 accounts showing operating losses increased from $772.9m to $939.8m over the previous 12 months. Those figures show Dazn continued to expand its rights portfolio while reporting widening operating deficits. The broadcaster’s willingness to keep investing in rights deals underpins its renewed arrangement with Fifa.
The precise value of the 2029 rights deal and the timing for exercising the option have not been disclosed, but the option will give Fifa breathing space ahead of the second edition of the expanded competition. Planning for the 2029 tournament has proved difficult: there have been no decisions on venues, format or size despite longstanding discussions about expanding the event to 48 teams, first reported by the Guardian two years ago. The expanded Club World Cup has been designed as a major money spinner but remains fraught with political problems.
Club World Cup progress has been affected by the fallout from Gianni Infantino’s aborted World Cup sell-off proposal, which prompted the European Football Clubs (EFC) lobby group to threaten to withdraw its support. In a letter to Fifa obtained by the Guardian, EFC expressed “serious disappointment” at delays in paying $250m in solidarity money owed to clubs from 2025 more than a year after the first competition had concluded.
Relations between EFC and Fifa are understood to have improved since the withdrawal of Infantino’s Fifa Forward Enterprise plan, but the two parties have yet to agree the finer details of a proposed joint venture to manage the Club World Cup’s commercial operations. Hosting discussions are unresolved: the 2030 World Cup co-host Morocco will be the favourites to host in 2029 if Infantino is re-elected given his close relationship with King Mohammed VI, Fifa’s decision to award hosting rights to the first women’s Club World Cup to the United States, revealed by the Guardian last month, has strengthened Morocco’s case because the US was in the running for 2029, and a jointly hosted tournament staged by Morocco and Spain is another possibility while Portugal are understood to have reservations about hosting.
Agreement on the commercial joint venture’s detailed terms remains outstanding and may be put on hold until after the Fifa presidential election in March.