TikTok has stepped up its involvement in live football coverage after FIFA announced clips from this year’s World Cup will be broadcast on the social media platform.
The deal between FIFA and TikTok will run until the end of 2026 and will also see world football’s governing body give access to select press conferences and training sessions to content creators.
FIFA said the agreement would ‘bring millions more fans closer to the action’.
It has been announced just weeks after TikTok signed a deal to allow it to continue operating in the US following Donald Trump’s threat to ban the platform over national security and privacy concerns.
The US had accused TikTok of acting as a vehicle to harvest data from American users, claims denied by the company.
‘This is an innovative and creative collaboration that will connect more fans across the globe to the FIFA World Cup in unprecedented ways, bringing them behind the curtain and closer to the action than ever before,’ FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom said.
TikTok will be able to live-stream parts of matches at the 2026 World Cup after striking a deal with FIFA
Donald Trump had threatened to ban TikTok five years ago but the company recently signed a deal which allows it to continue operating in the US
‘As football grows and evolves — uniting an increasing number of people — so should the way it is shared and promoted.’
In 2020, Trump issued an executive order threatening to ban TikTok to ‘safeguard the national security of the United States’.
Four years later, under the Joe Biden administration, the US Congress passed a law to ban the app over national security concerns, unless it was sold.
The deal signed by TikTok’s owner, Chinese entity ByteDance, sees the company form a joint venture which allows it to maintain its operations in the US.
The World Cup is being hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico. The 48-team tournament begins on June 11 and ends with the final on July 19.
