In the era of streaming services it seems fitting that world football's governing body FIFA should be launching one of their own, as 'FIFA+' comes onto the market to bring fans closer to the global game. The service includes a mix of live matches, archived content and original features.
It can be accessed both online through your browser of through a dedicated app in five languages, (English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish). There will be up to 40,000 live games broadcast throughout the year on the platform including 29,000 men’s games and 11,000 women’s matches..
FIFA's promise is to bring coverage to previously unserved competitions. For example, fans from across the world including the UK can tune into games coming live today from New Zealand, Kuwait, Iraq and Oman among many others which can be accessed through the match centre.
The platform is supported by ads but that may change with subscription fees a very real possibility for the platform in the future. The content coming up includes separate documentary series' with Brazilian legends Ronaldinho and Dani Alves, with “Ronaldinho: The Happiest Man in the World,” available from launch.
“Our 100% focus is on reach, we can’t achieve our development ambitions and our business model if it isn’t extending reach,” Charlotte Burr, FIFA Plus lead said at the platform's launch. She added: “We’ll be strategically extending – so we will be potentially going into gaming, social community, and potentially subscription depending on where this goes and where the industry disruption heads.”
FIFA promises that it will "be streaming the equivalent of 40,000 live games per year from 100 Member Associations across all six confederations, including 11,000 women’s matches" and offer "live coverage from Europe’s topflight leagues to previously unserved competitions from around the world in men’s, women’s and youth football."
There are currently no plans to bring the World Cup into the service, with global rights holders existing as an important stakeholder for that competition. Meanwhile, archived footage does include full World Cup matches along with highlights if you're just looking for a quick recap.
