MediaTalk | Season 4 | Ep. 23 - FIFA World Cup 2026: Global Media Rights, Ads vs. Sponsors, and Streaming Wars

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Mike Reynolds: Hi, I’m Mike Reynolds, a senior reporter covering the media industry with the S&P Global Market Intelligence tech, media, and telecom news team. Welcome to “MediaTalk,” a podcast hosted by S&P Global, where the news and research staff explore issues in the ever-evolving media landscape. This time, we’re going to talk about the sporting event of the summer, the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. This year, the tournament is taking place in the US, Mexico, and Canada. Sixteen stadiums across the three nations will be in play.

For the first time, the expanded event encompasses a field of 48 nations divided into 12 groups of four. There will be 104 matches in total, up from 32 countries and 64 games from Qatar in 2022. After group play yields its 32 advancing sides—the top two from each group, plus the eight best third-place finishers—the tournament hits the knockout stage.

That will culminate with the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19th. Action on the pitch aside, there is no shortage of commercial interest around the globe for FIFA’s big event. That extends to media rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales, as well as to viewership across platforms and the technologies that are going to bring the matches into our homes.

To provide a sense of some of the business around this year’s events, we’ve assembled a team of Kagan analysts in our virtual locker room. Mike Johnson is in upstate New York, Bruno Amaral is in Brazil, Ariel Thomas Rodriguez is in Mexico City, while Richard Berndes is in our London office.

Thanks, everybody, for joining us. We’re going to start with Kagan analyst Mike Johnson, who’s on the Sports Watch here in the US. How we doing, Mike? A soccer fan, a World Cup fan?

Michael Johnson: Yeah. Hey, Mike. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, to be honest, I’d probably call myself a casual fan of international soccer. I might not follow every league closely, but when the World Cup rolls around, I definitely tune in, enjoy the big moments, and yeah, it’ll be a great time to, to watch here in the US.

Reynolds: Okay. All right. Mike’s going to set the table for us a little bit. Give us a sense, Mike, about media rights — which I assume is the main revenue stream for FIFA.

Johnson: Yeah, exactly. For everyone that can’t afford to go to the matches, it’s all about the broadcast rights and how you can watch on whatever device you choose.

FIFA’s making history this year, pulling in nearly $4 billion from selling the rights to air the tournament. That’s a billion more than the last World Cup in Qatar—especially with this tournament expanding to 48 teams.

Broadcast rights actually make up about 30% of FIFA’s total revenue for this four-year cycle. And that money helps fund global soccer development and operations. So it’s a big deal. And when you talk about global reach, it’s pretty wild: it’s about 200 countries getting coverage, and in some places there are multiple deals.

Here in the US, we’ve got Fox for English and Telemundo for Spanish, so the matches are accessible to a huge audience. And you know, it’s not just the US. Recently, FIFA struck critical last-minute deals in China and India, locking in agreements that will connect billions of viewers in those markets.

In China, China Media Group secured exclusive rights for both men’s and women’s World Cups through 2031. The deal was finalized less than a month before the tournament, and it reportedly cost $60 million for 2026. And then, in India, Zee Entertainment will broadcast and stream 39 events through 2034, including the World Cups and other tournaments and things like that.

And then, to go a even further, advertisers are loving it too. Fox is charging a premium—up to $50 million, I’ve read—for their sponsorship packages, and Telemundo isn’t far behind. And the timing of this World Cup is pretty perfect.

Everything’s kind of lining up. In the US, summer months—great time zones for live viewing—adding in the hydration breaks for this tournament. And then the US, as hosts: so all ad spending is, I think it was up over 330% compared to 2022, so just a dramatic increase.

Reynolds: As you mentioned, Mike, Fox and Telemundo—English and Spanish language—are right holders respectively. What do their deals look like?

Johnson: So here in the US, coverage is going to be massive. Fox Sports has the exclusive English-language rights, which means every single match—all 104 of them—will be broadcast across Fox, FS1, and their streaming platform, Fox One.

Telemundo has the Spanish-language rights with over 700 hours of coverage. I think it’s the most comprehensive Spanish-language broadcast ever. Plus you have Peacock streaming all of those Spanish-language matches as well, so you can watch wherever you are.

And you know what’s really cool is that Fox is putting a record— I think it’s 40 matches—in prime time throughout the tournament. Yep. Yep. Making it super easy for fans to tune in after work or school, or however they’re watching. And all the knockout games, including the final, will be on Fox, so you won’t miss out on any of the huge moments throughout the tournament. So the—

Reynolds: Should be. It sounds like viewership should be pretty strong.

Johnson: Yeah. So when it comes to viewership, the numbers will be really strong, like you mentioned. If we look back to 2022, I think Fox averaged just over 3.5 million viewers per match. Okay. The Argentina–France final, I think it pulled in nearly 17 million, which was a record. So even when the US Men’s National Team exited— and I think it was the round of 16, or whatever—almost 13 million fans tuned into that.

So there’s definitely a big appetite to watch these games throughout the World Cup.

Reynolds: Yeah, no doubt. I think that during Fox’s Upfront—Michael Strahan, the American football commentator—he talked about they expect the three US group stage matches to draw about 15 million viewers a piece. Should the team go further, those numbers are only going to go up, and I think he was talking about 150 million people tuning in to the tournament over its course. So it’s, it’s Super Bowl-like.

Johnson: Yeah, exactly. And globally, it’s even—Oh, yeah… bigger, obviously. The 2022 final, I think it hit 1.5 billion viewers, and that was up from 1.1 billion in 2018.

And I think for this tournament, FIFA’s projecting six billion global engagements when you include TV, streaming, social media—that’s a huge leap. And it’s partly thanks to younger viewers who are watching more on streaming platforms than ever before.

Reynolds: I gotcha. That’s the tournament coming up. The rights for the 2030 tournament, which will be held in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal, are up for grabs in the US. Any sense, Mike, for what’s going to happen then?

Johnson: Yeah, that’s right. This’ll be a probably a major talking point, as the World Cup concludes in mid-July. After this summer’s World Cup, Fox’s deal is up, and next cycle—like you mentioned—starting with 2030 will be huge.

We’re not just talking about the traditional broadcasters anymore. We’ll have the streamers involved: Apple, Amazon—especially Netflix are all in the mix. Netflix has already made a pretty big splash by picking up the rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups. And I think they made it clear that they’re interested in the men’s tournament too, going forward.

So, yeah—the next rights deals are expected to be a lot more expensive, and it’ll almost certainly include more streaming and multi-platform options. Netflix, for example, could look for even more global rights, not just US exclusivity, since soccer is such a worldwide game.

Reynolds: Sure, absolutely. All right, Mike, last question for you. How will the US men’s team fare?

Johnson: Yeah, that’s a good question. They’re probably not the favorites to win it all. I’m hoping the team surprises with a relatively deep tournament run. You have the usual favorites: Brazil, France, Argentina.

They’re always stacked with talent and experience. France in particular is my pick to win it all. It seems like they have a pretty good mix of youth and experience, and Mbappé in his prime. So I’m going with France, hoping the US can pull off a deep run here.

Reynolds: All right. Me as well.

Okay, next up we have Bruno Amaral. Bruno is a research analyst covering Latin American mobile market within the TMT channel. His coverage includes carriers, vendors, tower companies, and technologies, as well as subscriber trends and forecasts. Bruno, how are things in Brazil? Hello, Mike.

Bruno Amaral: We’re heading into winter here, so it’s all good. I’m just chilling and waiting for the World Cup.

Reynolds: All right. So again, soccer is religion in Brazil. How is the team going to do? I think they’re ranked sixth by FIFA, which is maybe a little bit low for where they usually stand.

Amaral: Yeah. Seems like we’ll do fine for the first few matches. We’re going against Morocco, Haiti, and Scotland.

Reynolds: Okay.

Amaral: We have a pretty good chance to advance, but I’m not sure if we are material enough to win the tournament. But it’s been 24 years since we’ve won the last World Cup, so here’s hope.

Reynolds: Okay. Bruno is going to tell us now what’s going on about the new technology down in Brazil that I guess the World Cup is a coming out party for it.

Amaral: Yeah. It’s the new TV standard called ATSC 3.0, and we have the tradition to launch new TV technologies at some World Cups. In 1970, we had color TV. Really? Okay. And, yeah, in 2006 we had HDTV. So now we are having TV—

Reynolds: Okay. And the standard of 3.0, Bruno—can you just give us a layman’s sense for what that does? Again, as a viewer, it makes my experience better—how?

Amaral: Yeah. This new generation is capable of 4K resolution, or even up to 8K. High dynamic range (HDR) colors, surround sound, and Dolby Atmos. Okay. And it also has interactivity. So, when combined with a broadband connection, you can use it to rewind the live feed, you can have e-commerce. But it’s not mandatory. Just for if you have just the TV, you have the 4K experience.

Reynolds: The new standard. Is it widely adopted yet, or is it a check out the World Cup because this is what you can have if you do the 3.0 thing?

Amaral: Yeah. That’s the problem because the launch will take place in the first match on June 11, but the hardware ecosystem is not available yet. Okay.

We have set-top boxes in presale. But the first one that appeared in e-commerce is about $140, which is a bit expensive for low-income Brazilians. New TVs are being promised: Hisense, LG, TCL, Samsung. Okay. They are working on compatible TVs, but we don’t have anything out yet.

Reynolds: I got you. Are the sets equipped with the capabilities? Is that a 2027 thing or is it even later, 2028 perhaps?

Amaral: From 2027, I think things will be more available.

Reynolds: Okay. So the soccer matches aside, is there other content? Have production companies stepped up and said, “Yes, our upcoming drama series, our films, they’re going to be available and will be better served by being in the 3.0 format”? So is there other content underway?

Amaral: Sure. One of the biggest TV channels in Brazil is Globo. Yep. Globo TV already has 4K HDR content on its over-the-top platform, and they will also offer it in the broadcast version. But sure—this is for live TV special occasions like the World Cup or even live concerts. They’ll promise 4K video quality, and the latency would be better than over-the-top services.

Reynolds: Okay. Will you be able to check out any of the matches in the new technology with the tournament coming up?

Amaral: I am actually looking for a new TV, but I’m not sure. I don’t want to buy a new TV without it being compatible with the new standard. But I’m mostly okay because as far as the World Cup, we will have it for free on YouTube in 4K, and we will have it on Globo in HDTV. Okay. So it would be nice to have, but I don’t need it.

Reynolds: All right. Bruno, thank you so much, and we hope—thank you… that Brazil does well. Thank you. Me too.

Next up we have Ariel Thomas Rodriguez. He’s a senior research analyst who assesses Latin America’s regions fixed broadband, pay TV, and over-the-top platform segments. How are things, Ariel, in Mexico City?

Ariel Rodriguez: Hello, Mike. It’s all good so far. We’ll have to wait and see how this turns out. There are a lot of expectations, and sadly I did not manage to get any tickets.

Reynolds: Yeah, I know that right there— I guess it’s been renamed as all the stadiums have. Estadio Azteca is home to five of Mexico’s 13 matches. Maybe you’ll be lucky and one will fall into your lap somehow.

Anyway, I just wanted to see what you think about El Tri’s chances. Are they going to advance from their group? I think they’re in Group A: you have the opening match against South America on the 11th, and Czechia and the Republic of Korea are also in that group.

Rodriguez: You know what, Mike? Here in Mexico, we say we have a curse when it comes to the World Cup, and the national soccer team’s history in the FIFA World Cup is marked by a consistent inability to advance beyond the group stage. But we’ll see if, if luck is in our field this year—and who knows—maybe being a host city, a host country, will benefit our luck.

Reynolds: From your mouth to the soccer gods’ ears—let’s see what happens. Anyway, Ariel is going to give us a sense for connectivity in Latin America and what that means for the World Cup. Can you give us a sense, sir, for how many households in Latin America will be connected to this World Cup?

Rodriguez: Absolutely. See, residential fixed broadband is expected to take a strong lead in Latin America and the Caribbean’s viewership of the FIFA World Cup this year, after the region hit a historic record of 59% penetration this year. We estimate that the Latin America and Caribbean region—which includes 21 countries or markets under our radar—reached 125.7 million residential fixed broadband subscriptions in 2026.

That’s an increase of 21% from what we registered in the World Cup of 2022, about 104.1 million subscriptions. And this is in part because Latin America has experienced a boom in fiber deployment. In fact, fiber optic has become the leading technology for bringing broadband to homes in Latin America. And it’s so big that we expect residential households to reach 136.9 million subscriptions in 2030, meaning for the next FIFA World Cup.

Reynolds: Okay. All right. So things have really jumped up there in the last few years, and more to come. Ariel, what about on the mobile side? How is the area outfitted with 4G and 5G?

Rodriguez: See, for mobile connectivity, we have a different scenario from other regions. Although mobile devices remain the main platform for internet access in Latin America and the Caribbean, with more than 677.5 million subscriptions and a penetration of 126 at the end of 2024 alone, there are only a few markets in the region in which 5G has taken off—Okay—and data plans under the 4G coverage are often limited.

Here in the region, for example, in the United States—and correct me if I’m wrong—consumers have the option of choosing unlimited data plans. And that’s probably good if you want to stream a soccer match basically—Sure… anywhere. Where here, people prefer to save up their data plans for social media usage and stream at home.

Reynolds: Really? You don’t anticipate that a lot of people will be watching the matches on their phones? It will—

Rodriguez: be unrealistic, given our scenario. Our 4G coverage is solid. We have a lot of penetration, but 5G is not the best at this moment. And like I said, people here in Latin America prefer to stream at home.

Okay… and save up their data plans for social media. Although I see that the World Cup strategy for this year involves a lot of social media coverage—for example, with a partnership with TikTok. That will not be the case for watching an entire soccer match—Sure, yeah… on your phone.

Reynolds: Yeah, you’re not going to get all 90 minutes plus that way, for sure.

Rodriguez: You’re going to get a delay on the first goalie or something and that’s… Okay… not going to be nice.

Reynolds: I gotcha. All right. What about in traditional pay TV? Ariel, are trends akin to the US where the traditional ecosystem continues to wither?

Rodriguez: See, sadly, here is the same. Pay TV in Latin America continues to keep losing terrain to streaming platforms, and we just have to take a look at penetration—how penetration has performed over the last two World Cups.

See, in 2018, Latin America’s and the Caribbean’s pay TV penetration was 40%. That was the same percentage for fixed broadband back then. But in 2022 during the World Cup, pay TV penetration dropped to 35%. Wow. Okay. And nowadays in 2026, it stands at an estimated 29%. Wow. Okay. So it keeps on losing terrain. We keep on losing a lot of subscription. It’s not a very optimistic scenario for pay TV, to be honest.

Reynolds: I gotcha. So you’re thinking that people are going to be watching these matches via streaming?

Rodriguez: Of course, because we have households with fast speed internet thanks to fiber to the home, right? So streaming is booming in Latin America.

Unfortunately, we do not have a lot of data on the platforms and how many subscribers they have on Latin America yet—Okay… because they are not disclosing a lot of numbers on paid subscribers. Only a few players, for example Netflix, which is the leading OTT in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Disney+.

We do have new and original OTTs that have surged in Latin America, such as ViX (ViX), which surged after the Televisa and Univision fusion a couple years ago. Okay. And they’re actually buying a lot of rights for sports events, including the World Cup.

But just to give you an example of how big streaming is in Latin America, let me give you this context: Brazil and Mexico were ranked number two and number six, respectively, in Netflix top paid subscription markets at the end of 2025—after the United States, and above countries such as Japan, India, etc. So Latin America is a big streamer. They do love OTTs, and it’s a market where there’s a lot of opportunities for platforms to exploit the content here.

Reynolds: All right. One last thing here. I think you told me that extra spectrum is going into Mexico for the World Cup. What is that going to mean for the consumers and fans down there, Ariel?

Rodriguez: Of course. So we do have the inaugural performance or match here in Mexico City. And remember how I said 5G hasn’t taken off quite yet in Latin America? Right.

Well, what happens when you expect about six million international visitors during June and July? Right. Okay, okay. And they have devices that work with 5G and are used to that type of speed and coverage.

They did something very interesting here. We found out at the end of May that the head of Mexico’s telecommunications regulator, the CRT, created a mechanism to assign temporary spectrum licenses to operators at a discount—which has never happened. They’ve been very tough on the operators in exchange for coverage commitments at the World Cup.

And this is aimed at reducing congestion, of course, but also increasing speed and providing consumers with better service. Some of these frequencies are actually 5G-friendly, and the licenses will extend from June 11 to July to companies that already operate mobile spectrum licenses here in Mexico.

Reynolds: Wow, very interesting. All right, Ariel, we thank you for your insights in LatAm and in Mexico. Appreciate it.

Next up, and maybe mixing my sports metaphors here—batting cleanup, or if he prefers attacking midfielder—is Richard Berndes. Richard is an associate media analyst in the Kagan Media Research Group, covering broadcast, TV networks, sports, and e-sports sectors in Western Europe. Richard’s in London, as I mentioned. He’s a Tottenham Hotspur season ticket holder. I’m sure you’ve had some mixed feelings at your squad about the tough ’25/’26 season, Richard.

Richard Berndes: Yeah. Hi, Mike. Yeah, it’s been a tough season being a Tottenham Hotspur fan, especially as our archrivals Arsenal won the Premier League title. Okay. But we have a new coach, and I’m confident we’ll learn the lessons of last season, and I’ve renewed my season ticket, so I’m confident about the next season coming up.

Reynolds: All right. Richard, what about England? Are the Three Lions ready to make a deep World Cup run?

Berndes: England have had a strong squad for the last few years. But I’d say arguably this is probably the strongest it’s ever been. We got players like Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, and Bukayo Saka, so we’re strong across the pitch. Will they win it? I really hope so, but they need a bit of luck. But they should certainly get to the later stages—quarterfinals, semifinals. But I feel there’s probably a couple of teams stronger than England.

Reynolds: All right. Earlier Mike gave us a great overview of media rights around the world in the US, India, and China. Richard, what’s the coverage in the UK and in some of the other big European countries?

Berndes: Valuations in Europe are restricted by free-to-air obligations for the national team games, which are deemed culturally significant events, so they have to be shown free to air.

As such, there’s an established trend of longstanding terrestrial broadcasters holding the rights for all the matches—or certainly the key games. So their broadcasts could be free to air or commercial channels. So, for example, in the UK, the tournament is going to be shown by the BBC and the commercial broadcaster ITV.

In France, it’ll be M6 and TF1. But the France games will also be shown on beIN Sports, who will cover all the games.

Reynolds: All right.

Berndes: Another example would be in Germany: the main broadcasters ARD and ZDF will have all the key games and the Germany games, but MagentaTV, a pay TV operator, will have all the games.

So we are seeing the pay TVs coming into Europe to cover all the games. But certainly the big domestic games and most of the games will be free to air in Europe.

Reynolds: Media rights. It’s the top of FIFA’s revenue chain. Sponsorship is also key. Richard, can you give us a sense of some of the top brands that are involved with football’s governing body?

Berndes: Yeah. We’re certainly estimating that FIFA will be looking to drive its highest ever commercial revenues from sponsorship with this tournament, and it’s certainly what we’d expect to be the most commercially aggressive on record.

We’re estimating probably around $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion purely on marketing rights from FIFA. And the way FIFA is driving that is they’re looking to expand the expansion of the tournament, which has obviously gone to 104 games from 64 games—sure—in the previous thing. So there’s a lot of airtime and ability which they’re selling to their clients. And also, the location in North America, and especially the US, is arguably the biggest economy and the most important in the world.

But in terms of their strategy, they’ve got a three-tier sponsorship partnerships. Tier one—the top brands—they have a full year, four-cycle. And they’re people like Adidas, Coca-Cola, Visa, Lenovo, and Qatar Airways, to name a few.

Reynolds: And these are worldwide, right?

Berndes: Yeah. You’ll see these brands across all the stadiums. These are the top tier brands—brands like Adidas and Coca-Cola and Visa have been associated with the World Cup for a long time.

Sure. Level two: they’re brands that have gotten global rights specifically for this tournament. There you’ll be seeing sort of Budweiser, McDonald’s, Bank of America, people like that.

And then you have a level three, which is more lower level—probably offering operational and logistical support—and that would be people like Airbnb, Home Depot, and American Airlines.

Reynolds: I gotcha. And we will be seeing various commercials here in the States from these and other brands as the tournament comes upon us.

Richard, there’s been a bit of consternation here in the US about what to call stadiums. Gillette Stadium up in Foxborough, Mass, where the NFL’s New England Patriots play, is being called Boston Stadium for the World Cup. Similarly, MetLife Stadium, which is home to the NFL New York Giants and New York Jets, is now billed as New York–New Jersey Stadium.

Is this what FIFA does around the world, or is this a new practice?

Berndes: This is the first time they’ve been so proactive in doing things like this. FIFA are fiercely protective of their branding, and they ensure that only the official sponsors and themselves extract maximum value out of the association.

Therefore, what they’ll be trying to ensure is the brands—not paying FIFA a sponsorship fee—don’t get any exposure around the tournament.

So the stadiums have all been renamed to reflect their location, as you just said, Mike. Now it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out on the ground because obviously these stadiums are known as these well-known names that you just mentioned, like Lumen Field, Gillette Stadium, AT&T Stadium.

Sure, yeah. So it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out on the ground and how the fans refer to them. And there could even be a potential slip-up by some of the commentators, because these names are quite well-established.

But as I said, the reason it’s happened is FIFA’s really strict, and they extract the maximum amount of value out of their sponsors.

Reynolds: Yeah, it’s interesting. I think that’s a really good point that, yes, the Cowboys have been playing at AT&T Stadium for as long as it’s been open. What are you going to call it? I think familiarity.

Anyway, how about Richard on the ticket side? Much has been written about how expensive many of the tickets are here in the US. There’s been a bit of controversy. I think the New York and New Jersey attorney generals recently subpoenaed FIFA about ticket prices, inventory leases, and resale.

What do you make of the ticketing situation?

Berndes: As a fan, it seems to be very confusing and a bit of a mess. But again, this is FIFA—looking to maximize their earning potential in World Cup years.

The tickets themselves are expected to be priced at very high levels than previous World Cups, and that’s also given the location of the event. There’s been four opportunities to buy tickets, but price and efforts has fluctuated as fans have gained access to the site and—

Reynolds: That’s a nice word: fluctuate.

Berndes: Yeah. And they spent hours in these digital queues. And FIFA have used a dynamic pricing system to match supply and demand. And there’s also the opportunity to resell unwanted tickets, but only via FIFA’s official marketplace facility.

As you touched on, there’s been a lot of controversy in the US about how this has been played out, and there’s been complaints to the attorney generals of New York.

It does seem a bit of a mess, but this is a marquee world event, and these are high ticket prices, and the public wants to see these events. You have to overlay on that the traveling expense, sure. Absolutely.

If you’re traveling from, say, New York to Mexico to Canada to California, you’re traveling across two or three continents. If, say, for example, the tournament was in a Europe country like Italy, it’s very easy to get a train, so there’s that added expense for fans as well.

Reynolds: Sure. All right. Getting to the end here, Richard. Tell us about video games in the World Cup.

Soccer’s always been a popular video game property.

Berndes: Absolutely. FIFA has always been associated with the EA games—FIFA 23, 22, et cetera. But that association with Electronic Arts doesn’t exist anymore because FIFA and EA fell out over revenue.

FIFA wanted a massive uplift in revenue, so EA have gone their own way. And they’re now called EA Sports FC. And they moved away from the FIFA brand.

However, there was a lot of discussion FIFA would be launching their own game made by Delphi Interactive, and it was going to be produced in association with Netflix. And there is a new game called FIFA Heroes, which FIFA has put out.

Reynolds: Richard, we heard what you feel about England’s chances. Given your football fandom and knowledge, who are maybe a couple of nations that are going to break through in this tournament?

Berndes: I think the side for me that really potentially could go quite deep is Norway, and they pose a threat.

It’s really down to a couple of players, most notably their striker, Erling Haaland, who’s arguably the greatest striker in world football at the moment.

But they’ve also got Atlético Madrid’s Alexander Sørloth, Crystal Palace’s Jørgen Strand Larsen, and the Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard. And yet you never dismiss the home nations.

The US, they’re playing home. It could be a real boost for a host country, and also they’ve got a great coach in Mauricio Pochettino.

Reynolds: You mentioned some players. You mentioned Harry Kane earlier. Who are a couple other players?

Obviously, the French and Spanish team bring some notables to the game.

Berndes: Yeah, and I think you can’t really ignore this: this is going to be the last World Cup for Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. So…

Reynolds: I don’t know. Again, 2030’s not that far away. Come on, Richard.

Berndes: Cristiano Ronaldo is in very good shape. Yeah. It could be the last time you see those, but you’re looking to see Mbappé — these sort of players — playing at this high level. Hopefully we’re going to see a great event and some great soccer.

Reynolds: All right. And put you on the spot. Who’s going to win?

Berndes: For me, it’s either going to be Spain or France, but obviously I hope England win.

Reynolds: All right. We will see. That concludes this episode of “MediaTalk.” Thanks to Mike, Bruno, Ariel, and Richard for sharing their knowledge about the business of soccer and the 2026 World Cup. You can also check out our guests’ more in-depth takes and other World Cup stories on CapIQ Pro. Thanks to all of you for listening. This is Mike Reynolds. Enjoy the World Cup. Should be a lot of fun—top action over the next five weeks. I know I’ll be watching. We’ll catch up soon on the next installment of “MediaTalk.”