After a grueling qualification process that lasted more than three years, the FIFA Men’s World Cup is well underway. 32 teams traveled to Qatar for the first-ever winter edition of the tournament, although the hosts are controversial for a variety of reasons.
Holders France and five-time winners Brazil qualified for the round of 16 with one game to spare, but many top nations found things much more difficult in the group.
England made Group B look relatively easy, with the United States joining them in the round of 16. Here’s everything you need to know to watch all the upcoming World Cup matches live, wherever you are in the world.
Which World Cup matches are on TV?
Every World Cup game is broadcast live in the US and UK. Here are all the upcoming matches:
Fri 2 Dec
- Ghana vs Uruguay – 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm GMT
- South Korea vs Portugal – 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm GMT
- Cameroon vs Brazil – 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT
- Serbia vs Switzerland – 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT
Sat. 3 Dec.
- Netherlands vs USA – 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm GMT
- Argentina vs Australia – 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT
Sun 4 Dec
- France vs Poland – 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm GMT
- England vs Senegal – 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT
When is the next USA game?
The United States emerged from the group in second place behind England and will face the Netherlands, winners of Group A, in the round of 16. The match will kick off at 7am PT, 10am ET or 3pm GMT on Saturday, December 3.
When is the next game against England?
England finished top of Group B and will therefore face second-placed Senegal in Group A on Sunday 4 December. The match also takes place at 11am PT, 2pm ET or 7pm GMT.
How to watch the World Cup in the USA
Fox Sports owns the exclusive rights to the World Cup in the United States, with matches shown on both the main Fox channel and Fox Sports 1.
It is worth checking if these channels are already included in your cable subscription. Alternatively, you can register through one of the following:
- DirecTV – from $69.99 per month
- Flat – from $69.99 per month
- FuboTV – from $69.99 per month
- Hulu – from $16.98 per month (with ads) or $23.98 per month (without ads)
- Sling – from $20 per month for the first month, then $40 per month thereafter
- Vidgo – from $59.95 per month
Some of these services offer a free trial, so it’s worth checking before signing up. But even so, paying for just one month will cover the entire tournament.
All channels are available on all your devices including iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Roku, Android TV, Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and more.
How to watch the World Cup in the UK
In the UK, coverage of the World Cup is split between the BBC and ITV, with both showing the final.
These are free channels so don’t charge a subscription fee, although you do need a TV license to watch live. It costs £159 per year, but there’s no way to pay monthly.
The BBC and ITV are making live coverage widely available. Aside from TV, they are also available online and on most mobile devices.
Apart from live matches, the BBC and ITV have plenty of other World Cup coverage to watch online. If that’s not enough, World Cup sponsors Hisense are releasing a 15-20 minute recap of the action and atmosphere each day of the tournament. Known as FIFA World Cup Daily, each episode is filmed from an official fan park in Qatar, and they can be watched for free on the FIFA website.
Can you watch the World Cup in 4K?
In most cases, yes, although there are caveats. The BBC has confirmed that it will broadcast all live games shown on BBC One in 4K HDR, including via BBC iPlayer. Sadly, that won’t be the case for ITV, with no games streaming in 4K.
Fox Sports will broadcast every game in 4K HDR to your TV, but that’s not what you’ll get when streaming. Instead, it’ll be an enhanced version of the 1080p stream – it’ll be better than regular 1080p, but still not proper 4K.
Of course, you’ll need a TV (or computer, or even a phone) capable of outputting 4K to see the benefits.
How to watch the World Cup outside the US or UK
If you’re based outside the US or UK, it’s worth checking which broadcaster owns the rights to the World Cup in your country. For example, it’s SBS in Australia, TF1 and beIN Sports in France, and Viacom18 in the Indian subcontinent.
However, if you’re just visiting another country, it makes sense to access your UK-based subscription.
Until the end of 2020, it was quite easy for UK viewers to watch TV outside the UK when traveling to another EEA member state. Providers had to allow customers to view content by law, but Brexit means that is no longer the case.
You will now need to use a VPN (virtual private network) to set your location to the UK in order to unlock the content. The same goes for American viewers who want to watch the Premier League beyond what’s shown on American networks.
Our pick is NordVPN, which also topped our overall ranking of the best VPNs due to its ease of use, security features, and excellent value for money.
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