DELHI: FIFA media rights officials are visiting India this week, three sources said, ahead of next month’s World Cup for which football’s ruling body has not struck a broadcast deal with India due to differences over pricing.

Millions of football fans in India risk not being able to watch the tournament due to a deadlock over broadcast rights. China Media Group, the parent of China’s state broadcaster, agreed a World Cup broadcasting deal last week to end a standoff over TV rights there.

The three sources familiar with FIFA’s plans said the media rights executives are in India, though details of who they are meeting and the exact agenda were not clear.

In a statement to Reuters, FIFA said it concluded agreements with broadcasters in over 180 territories and discussions in India regarding the sale of media rights were ongoing and “must remain confidential at this stage”.

Discussions between the Reliance-Disney joint venture, India’s biggest media company and FIFA have not materialised, and Sony, another big player, has refrained from bidding, Reuters has previously reported. Reliance-Disney joint venture offered $20 million for the FIFA rights. That led to a disagreement because FIFA had initially sought $100 million but was last looking for around $60 million at least, Reuters has reported.

It is not clear if FIFA is meeting with Reliance-Disney joint venture. The venture, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance, declined to comment.

The World Cup kicks off on June 11, leaving only three weeks for a deal to be finalised, broadcast infrastructure to be set up and advertising inventory to be sold.

With about 85 million fans, football is popular in India but lags behind cricket which has 492 million fans, according to a 2024 report from Deloitte and Google.

India accounted for 2.9 per cent of the global linear TV reach at the 2022 World Cup.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2026