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ARTICLE AD BOX
The FIFA World Cup, which can easily be called the biggest sporting event on the planet, is kicking off at 12:30 am (IST) on Friday in Mexico City as the co-host nation faces 2010 hosts South Africa in their Group A fixture.
Zee5 are the official broadcast and streaming partners of FIFA for this event which will be the biggest World Cup (in terms of number of teams participating) in football history.
Matches will be livestreamed on the Zee5 app as well as on the Unite8 Hindi and English sports channels.
However, the Zee5 streaming comes with a subscription of ₹799 for three devices, which can be availed before the opening match kicks off. After this, the subscription will come for one single device only.
Can Indians watch World Cup for free?
Yes, there is a way with which Indians can watch the FIFA World Cup's most important matches for free, but not all of them.
Some of the matches will be broadcast at no cost by DD Sports through DD Free Dish.
Key matches of the tournament, namely the opening match, and then from quarter-final onwards, all fixtures will be available for streaming for free via DD Free Dish.
Dates of free matches on DD Free Dish:
1. 12 June: Mexico vs South Africa - opening match
2. Quarter finals on 9, 10, and 11 July.
3. Semi finals on 14 and 15 July
4. Final on 19 July.
FIFA+
Another way for free viewing is FIFA's streaming services, FIFA+, which stream a select number of live matches, replays, and highlights. However, all 104 matches will not be available here.
YouTube
YouTube has collaborated with FIFA as the World Cup's official partner for the first time. The opening 10 minutes of every match will be streamed for free on YouTube. Some full matches will also be available for free on the platform depending on territory.
VPN options:
CazéTV in Brazil will be streaming all matches for free on YouTube, but is geo-locked to the country. It can only accessed via VPN, which is legal in India.
However, accessing banned websites via VPN is illegal in India and bypassing regional geo-locks can breach a platform's terms of service. Viewers should be mindful of the limitations of using this option.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Groups
Group A: Czechia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, South Africa
Group B: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Qatar, Switzerland
Group C: Brazil, Haiti, Morocco, Scotland
Group D: Australia, Paraguay, Türkiye, United States
Group E: Curaçao, Ecuador, Germany, Ivory Coast
Group F: Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, Tunisia
Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
Group H: Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Uruguay
Group I: France, Iraq, Norway, Senegal
Group J: Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Jordan
Group K: Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Portugal, Uzbekistan
Group L: Croatia, England, Ghana, Panama
English (US) ·