By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THAILAND NOW remains as the only one among a total of 11 Asean countries which has not yet purchased broadcasting rights for the FIFA World Cup 2026 scheduled to kick off in a wee hour of Friday.
Negotiations between the FIFA and a Thai telecom firm, namely Jasmine International Pcl, have yet failed to bear fruit since the former turned down the latter’s request for a substantial price cut to buy the FIFA rights to broadcast the world football tournament live from the United States, Mexico and Canada between June 12 and July 20.
Jasmine has desperately asked for a price cut from 1.3 billion baht to about 500 million baht which would be otherwise comparable to the price reportedly offered to Vietnam. All other 10 Asean countries including Thailand’s neighbours such as Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam have already bought the FIFA broadcasting rights at varied prices.
FIFA officials were quoted as saying their broadcasting rights for the FIFA World Cup 2026 may be considered costly because the number of national teams has increased from 32 to 48 to play a total of 104 matches throughout the five-and-a-half-week tournament started at 2.00 a.m. on Friday local time.
Thailand has earlier waived the Must Have broadcasting rules and bought the FIFA broadcasting rights for some 1.4 billion baht for the FIFA World Cup 2022 held in Qatar.
However, a last-minute agreement between the FIFA and Jasmine over the price of the World Cup broadcasting rights for Thailand might probably be hammered out within tomorrow (June 11).
CAPTIONS:
Top – World Cup trophy by the goal post. Photo – My Profit Tutor on Unsplash
Front Page – FIFA President Gianni Infantino holds the World Cup trophy while he speaks during the grand opening of the 2026 FIFA World Cup international broadcast centre at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Centre, Dallas, Texas, on June 1, 2026. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images and published by CNA
Also read:
FIFA yet denies World Cup broadcasting price cut for Thailand
Thailand among 4 Asean countries not yet buying World Cup broadcasting rights
Govt urged to negotiate price cut for FIFA World Cup 2026 broadcasting rights
Private sector encouraged to sponsor World Cup 2026 in lieu of govt
Iran World Cup players granted visas to enter the US, says White House official
