The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has announced their entry into the streaming service industry with a football rendition of Netflix and Amazon Prime.
The streaming platform will be free and include documentaries and a few live games during the launch, but this may become a strategy for FIFA to broadcast World Cup games at a price.
FIFA+ has already positioned itself as a strong competitor against existing platforms, and the streaming platform will also be used to promote sponsors of the association.
FIFA’s director of strategy Charlotte Burr says, “the association has no intention of adding a subscription fee to the platform, but we may decide over time to change if and when an opportunity presents itself, and we enter into premium rights or implement other models. But the platform will always have a free subscription.”
FIFA+ also mentioned that the streaming platform had geoblocking to restrict matches aired to specific territories.
Since the confederations own the rights to the World Cup qualifiers, it’s unclear if these matches will be available on the streaming service.
The launch of FIFA+ would shift content away from YouTube, which was primarily used to watch classic games and sports politics events.