RTÉ secures exclusive free-to-air Irish rights to 2030 World Cup

By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association

The national broadcaster has announced it has secured exclusive free-to-air rights to the 2030 Fifa World Cup in Ireland.

On Sunday night, Spain claimed victory over Argentina to be crowned the 2026 World Cup champions.

More than one million people watched the match live on RTÉ 2, the organisation said, and it became the most-streamed single event in the history of the RTÉ Player, with more than 1.4 million streams.

On Monday, the broadcaster announced it had obtained the rights to the next tournament, which will be hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with three games also to be held in South America.

Across the 2026 tournament’s fixtures, viewers of RTÉ Player generated 23.4 million streams, nearly three times the audience of the 2022 World Cup.

Along with the final, the top-performing matches of the tournament included England v Argentina, France v Spain and England v Norway.

In a statement, RTÉ’s director general Kevin Bakhurst said he was “delighted” the organisation had the rights to the next World Cup.

We look forward to bringing the next Fifa World Cup to Irish audiences, including the Republic of Ireland's qualification campaign which we hope will be successful

He said: “The huge number of streams on RTÉ Player throughout the tournament has been one of our big success stories this year and has highlighted the value of our investment in the service in recent years.

“We look forward to bringing the next Fifa World Cup to Irish audiences, including the Republic of Ireland’s qualification campaign which we hope will be successful.”

The organisation’s head of sport Declan McBennett said Sunday had been a “memorable day”, with “the All-Ireland hurling final and the 2026 Fifa World Cup final bringing an exciting day of live sport to audiences”.