International soccer organization FIFA is looking to raise between $1 billion and $2 billion to build out its free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel FIFA Plus, according to a report.
This week, AdAge cited unnamed sources who said the organization is working with Swiss investment bank UBS Group to raise the money as it works to expand its FAST channel.
FIFA Plus launched in 2022, and offers match replays and ancillary programming related to global soccer. In some countries, FIFA Plus also offers live matches, depending on telecast agreements with local rights holders. Last year, the channel offered the Women’s World Cup in countries where local broadcasters had not secured the rights to the tournament.
FIFA is hoping to bring even more live soccer matches to its global audience, but needs the cash to move forward with its ambitious goals. Their decision to tap UBS Group to find additional sources of money for FIFA Plus comes as the organization looks to offer matches from the Club World Cup tournament next year. In some countries, FIFA has struggled to land telecast agreements with regional broadcasters for the event.
FIFA briefly considered working with Apple to bring the Club World Cup to a global stage, but those talks stalled out, according to Bloomberg. FIFA is now looking to work with local television networks in countries where soccer is popular, and offer the event through FIFA Plus in other territories.
FIFA Plus is available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV (Google TV) devices through the FIFA app, and is also distributed as a FAST channel across LG Channels, Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel, Rakuten TV and VIDAA Channels.
