It’s been, well, 3.5 years since the last World Cup, but the biggest football tournament returns, spanning three countries as the action takes places across North America from Mexico to the United States and Canada.
The tournament begins in Mexico City on the 11th June, and over the course of five weeks (37 days to be exact), 48 teams will take part in 104 matches, making this the biggest World Cup yet.
And unlike the Champions League Final, the World Cup will be free-to-air, and if you live in the UK, there are two ways that you can the action live.
We can confirm that unlike Euro 2024, this tournament will be viewable in 4K HLG HDR, if you’re catching the action on iPlayer.
How to watch every World Cup 2026 game live for free
The rights to the 2026 World Cup is shared between BBC and ITV, and matches will be broadcast both on linear TV (through an aerial broadcast) and OTT streaming via iPlayer and ITVX.
Fair warning though. With matches kicking off across several time-zones, depending on the team you’re watching, you may be staying up very late (or waking up early) to catch your national team.
Here are the fixtures for the first week of the tournament and which channel/streaming service they’re on.
11th June
- Mexico v South Africa, 8pm ITV/ITVX
12th June
- South Korea v Czechia, 3am ITV/ITVX
- Canada v Bosnia and Herzegovina, 8pm BBC/iPlayer
13th June
- Qatar v Switzerland, 8pm ITV/ITVX
- Brazil v Morocco, 11pm BBC/iPlayer
- USA v Paraguay, 2am BBC/iPlayer
14th June
- Haiti v Scotland, 2am BBC/iPlayer
- Australia v Türkiye, 5am ITV/ITVX
- Germany v Curaçao, 6pm ITV/ITVX
- Netherlands v Japan, 9pm ITV/ITVX
15th June
- Ivory Coast v Ecuador, 12am BBC/iPlayer
- Sweden v Tunisia, 3am ITV/ITVX
- Spain v Cabo Verde, 5pm ITV/ITVX
- Belgium v Egypt, 8pm BBC/iPlayer
- Saudi Arabia v Uruguay, 11pm ITV/ITVX
16th June
- Iran v New Zealand, 2am BBC/iPlayer
- France v Senegal, 8pm BBC/iPlayer
- Iraq v Norway, 11pm BBC/iPlayer
17th June
- Argentina v Algeria, 2am ITV/ITVX
- Austria v Jordan, 5am BBC/iPlayer
- Portugal v DR Congo, 6pm BBC/iPlayer
- England v Croatia, 9pm ITV/ITVX
How to watch World Cup 2026 – what do I need?
With the World Cup 2026 being streamed in 4K, to see the action in its very best, you’ll need a 4K HDR HLG capable device or a display.
All 4K TVs sold support HDR, and all are required to support HDR10 and HLG.
BBC’s iPlayer app supports HDR HLG but ITVX does not. If you want to watch the matches in 4K HDR, you’ll need a display or streaming device that supports HLG streaming on iPlayer.
The BBC has a help guide for 4K viewing here, but you can expect TVs and streamer sticks going back years to feature support for HDR at the very least.
