A TV is a long-term investment, but that doesn't mean you can't buy one especially for the World Cup. If you do that, though, there are some things you should be aware of; watching sport on a TV is not like watching movies or TV shows. You’ll need a set that is up to the task.
Which is where we come in. We have listed which features to look out for on a new TV (along with which models excel in those areas) to make sure you’re seeing – and hearing – the beautiful game at its best.
Motion handling
If your TV makes football players look like the Tin Man in need of some oil, it’s time for an upgrade. What you need is buttery smooth motion but without veering into soap opera effect territory. It’s a fine balance, and not one that all TVs can manage.
Our pick: Sony has long been the king of motion handling, and the Sony Bravia 8 II is one of the current industry leaders. Its lightning quick response time means sporting action is free from smearing or judder, so football players move how they should. Of course, it helps that this is an all-round excellent TV in other areas as well.
Colour accuracy
There’s a lot more to a TV’s colours than just telling the red team from the blue team. Great colour accuracy will render skin tones more faithfully, heightening the sense of realism and making the game more immersive. You want colours to be bright, sure – but not overly so. Otherwise the players will start to look like characters in an arcade video game. Or worse, fade into the background next to the gaudy advertising and on-screen chyrons.
Our pick: The Sony Bravia 5 is one of the more affordable TVs on this list, but delivers a stunning colour performance. The Standard preset gives you “a beautiful mix of punchiness, shading subtlety and balance, with no tone standing out unnaturally against the rest,” we wrote in our review. “Colours also do what some rival TVs can’t by retaining high levels of saturation in very dark scenes.” Perfect for the big game.
Brightness
While some World Cup games don’t kick off until 2 or 3am UK time, some start as early as 8pm, when it’s still very much daylight. So you want a TV with enough brightness so that you can still make out what’s going on in these early matches.
But it’s a fine balance to strike. Some of those neon goalkeepers’ shirts and bright enough without the TV making them look like highlighter pens running around the pitch.
Our pick: The Samsung QN90F might be a backlit set, but its local dimming system is so advanced there is virtually no haloing around bright objects, which is a cup-worthy achievement. And bright highlights retain a ton of detail – essential if you’re watching in bright conditions, or with someone who insists on keeping the big light on.
Sound
If you want really atmospheric sound, we would always recommend buying one of the best soundbars, or even one of the best surround sound systems. But if you can't spend the extra, then certain TVs can sound surprisingly good.
So what should you look for? An audio performance that brings the stadium home, of course. But that’s not all. Some of Samsung’s 2026 TVs feature an AI Football Mode, and while it might sound like a gimmick, it could prove useful – as well as sharpening up the picture, it should make the commentary clearer. Though we haven’t tested it for ourselves, so we can’t confirm how well it works.
Our pick: The Philips OLED910 is probably the best-sounding TV around right now. Its Bowers & Wilkins sound system delivers accurate placement, heaps of detail and impressive weight (for a TV, that is). Dynamics are impressive too, though that will really be felt when you watch a movie after the final whistle has blown.
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