Apple Working to Secure Streaming Rights to FIFA Club World Cup

Apple is working to secure an exclusive TV deal with soccer governing organization FIFA, reports The New York Times. FIFA will launch a revamped version of Club World Cup in 2025, and Apple wants the TV rights. Club World Cup 2025 will feature 32 teams from each of the six confederations.

fifa
An agreement between Apple and FIFA could be announced as soon as this month, and the first tournament will take place in the United States next summer. Apple could be paying around $1 billion, and The New York Times says it is not yet clear if there will be any free-to-air rights. If not, the entire tournament could be available only to Apple TV+ subscribers.

Apple has already shelled out $2.5 billion to secure global broadcasting rights to Major League Soccer. MLS and League Cup games are streamed on ‌Apple TV‌+, with access priced at $14.99 per month or $99 per season for non-subscribers and $12.99 per month or $79 per season for those who subscribe to ‌Apple TV‌+.

Apple sees live sports as a way to lure new customers to the ‌Apple TV‌+ streaming service. In addition to the MLS deal, it has also secured a deal with Major League Baseball. Apple negotiated for NFL Sunday Ticket access, and while that didn't work out, a report from The Athletic suggests that Apple is still in the running to secure some streaming access to NBA games.

Earlier this year, Apple introduced a dedicated Apple Sports app that allows users to get real-time scores and stats for their favorite teams. The app is able to sync with the My Sports experience in the ‌Apple TV‌ app.

Popular Stories

28 years later iphone 1

Filmmakers Used 20 iPhones at Once to Shoot '28 Years Later'

Friday May 30, 2025 7:27 am PDT by
Sony today provided a closer look at the iPhone rigs used to shoot the upcoming post-apocalyptic British horror movie "28 Years Later" (via IGN). With a budget of $75 million, Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later will become the first major blockbuster movie to be shot on iPhone. 28 Years Later is the sequel to "28 Days Later" (2002) and "28 Weeks Later" (2007), which depict the aftermath of a...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
maxresdefault

No iOS 19: Apple Going Straight to iOS 26

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:56 am PDT by
With the design overhaul that's coming this year, Apple plans to rename all of its operating systems, reports Bloomberg. Going forward, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS will be identified by year, rather than by version number. We're not going to be getting iOS 19, we're getting iOS 26. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. iOS 26 will be accompanied by...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

iPhone 17 Display Sizes: What to Expect

Thursday May 29, 2025 11:38 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone 17 lineup will include four iPhones, and two of those are going to get all-new display sizes. There's the iPhone 17 Air, which we've heard about several times, but the standard iPhone 17 is also going to have a different display size. We've heard a bit about the updated size before, but with most rumors focusing on the iPhone 17 Air, it's easy to forget. Display analyst Ross...
macOS Tahoe Render

macOS Tahoe Name Leaked Ahead of Apple's WWDC Event Next Week

Sunday June 1, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
The alleged name of macOS 26 (yes) has leaked. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that macOS 26 will be named macOS Tahoe, after California's scenic Lake Tahoe. Apple previously named its Mac operating systems after big cats like Cheetah, Tiger, Leopard, and Lion. Starting with OS X Mavericks in 2013, however, Apple switched to California-themed names like...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

6 visionOS-Inspired Design Elements Coming to iOS 26

Friday May 30, 2025 3:26 pm PDT by
With iOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, and watchOS 26, Apple is planning to debut a new design that's been described as taking inspiration from visionOS, the newest operating system. With WWDC coming up soon, we thought we'd take a closer look at visionOS and some of the design details that Apple might adopt based on current rumors and leaked information. 1. Translucency Inside Apple, the iOS 26...
iphone 16 teal

iPhone 17 Base Model Now Said to Feature A18 Chip and 8GB of RAM

Friday May 30, 2025 11:07 am PDT by
The latest rumored specs for the iPhone 17 base model are underwhelming. In a research note with equity research firm GF Securities this month, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said that the lowest-end iPhone 17 model will be equipped with the same A18 chip that is used in the iPhone 16 base model. The chip will continue to be manufactured with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process, known as N3E, he...

Top Rated Comments

Whats-a-computer? Avatar
15 months ago
Background information for non "soccer" fans: the fifa club worldcup isnt new, its just bigger now. It never was a relevant tournament in the soccer world. Not sure it will be now. Probably wont make AppleTV+ much more popular.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Brenster Avatar
15 months ago
Save me from the unwanted expense of funding broadcasters/streamers overpaying/bidding for sports rights, loading up the rest of us with the increased costs whether we want to watch or not - absolutely not in my case. cf Sky, Amazon, BT/TNT etc all trying to outbid each other for UK & European soccer rights. The quantities of money involved defy belief and the failure to increase subscribers to cover it all means the existing subscriber base gets to pay the increased costs.

Let those who want to watch this stuff assume the full burden of the broadcaster/streamer's largesse.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ELman Avatar
15 months ago
That's great. Just keep it as a separate subscription offering and don't raise the Apple TV Plus price.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bigchrisfgb Avatar
15 months ago

Background information for non "soccer" fans: the fiifa club worldcup isnt new, its just bigger now. It never was a relevant tournament in the soccer world. Not sure it will be now. Probably wont make AppleTV+ much more popular.
It’s being massively reconfigured and virtually rebranded though.
The amount of elite teams taking part, and the change in the calendar will make it much more popular than before.
It’s not Champions League, or Premier League levels popular, but much more than before.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Fuzzball84 Avatar
15 months ago
I don't mind the sport but not the FIFA governing body. I'm sure FIFA will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of Apple wanting some of that product.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
epox999 Avatar
15 months ago

Formula 1, now Fifa...
Apple doesn't have F1 rights? What do you mean
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)