French esports fans won't need a streaming subscription to follow the Esports World Cup this summer after the Esports Foundation signed France Télévisions as an official media partner for the Esports World Cup 2026. The tournament takes place in Paris starting July 6 and ends on August 23. It’s the first time the prestigious event has taken place outside Riyadh.
Beginning July 7, France Télévisions will air "La Minute EWC", a daily highlights program that will run across the full seven weeks of the tournament. European esports promoter N.E.O. (New Esports Org.), co-founded by Bertrand Amar and Matthieu Dallon, brokered the partnership and will handle production of the daily segment.
What the broadcast deal means for French viewers
[OFFICIAL] France Télévisions becomes the Esports World Cup’s official French media partner for 2026 📰
— RFT.GG (@RFTGGlol) July 6, 2026
Daily EWC coverage will air on France 4 and France 2 from July 7, with “La Minute EWC” also available on France Télévisions website pic.twitter.com/fC6dkozSyW
The partnership is set to expose EWC to a new audience, with many viewers watching who may never even have heard of Twitch before, let alone seen a Twitch stream. France Télévisions is the nation’s biggest television broadcaster and public institution; the kind of broadcaster that usually covers the Olympics and national football fixtures, such as the UEFA Nations League. Getting a slot on that channel is a different level of visibility than a dedicated esports platform and will surely be a massive boost for the industry. It means more eyeballs and more exposure to esports.
Mohammed Al Nimer, Chief Commercial Officer at the Esports Foundation, said:. "France is one of the countries that helped shape modern esports," he said. "Through France Télévisions, audiences across the country will be able to follow the stories, rivalries and defining moments of EWC every day on national television. Our ambition is to help esports become one of the world's biggest sports, and that starts by making its greatest moments accessible to everyone."
France Télévisions already has esports in its DNA
The news is a big deal but this actually isn't the broadcaster's introduction to competitive gaming. France Télévisions has already served as a multi-year exclusive streaming partner for the La Banque Postale Coupe de France de League of Legends, where it covered early rounds, semi-finals, and the final across France TV Twitch and Slash. The broadcaster also covered Aux Jeux Streamers!, a hybrid event that featured television personalities, French creators, and Olympic athletes competing in virtual sports ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The bigger picture around EWC 2026
The France Télévisions deal is one piece of a much larger rollout of partnerships surrounding the Paris event. The EWC 2026 brings together more than 2,000 players and 200 clubs from over 100 countries, competing across 25 tournaments and 24 games for a prize pool exceeding $75 million.
On the commercial side, Sony has confirmed an expanded collaboration that puts PlayStation consoles throughout the competition, with Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Television also involved in fan-facing activations. A second season of the Esports World Cup: Level Up documentary, produced by Sony Pictures Television and directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler, will be distributed globally through Prime Video.
Cristiano Ronaldo is returning as the tournament's global ambassador for the second consecutive year, and the Esports Foundation has also signed a memorandum of understanding with France's Ministry of Sport, Youth and Community Life. Secretlab has extended its role as official gaming chair partner. The broadcast side isn't being left behind either — Naver's game streaming platform Chzzk has locked in exclusive Korean-language livestreams of all 25 EWC 2026 events.
The scale of the commercial operation reflects what EWC achieved in its previous edition. The 2025 event reached more than 750 million viewers worldwide and generated over 350 million hours watched across seven weeks.
Buzz building ahead of Paris
This is shaping up to be the most visible EWC yet. The France Télévisions partnership signals that the Esports Foundation is serious about breaking past the existing esports audience and reaching new people. Whether La Minute EWC actually converts new viewers? It’s a question almost as intriguing as the tournament itself.
La Minute EWC begins airing July 7 and runs until the conclusion of EWC 2026 on August 23.
