April 14 – SportyTV has secured pay-TV rights to the World Cup in South Africa, meaning all 104 matches from the tournament across Mexico, the United States and Canada will be available on the African sports platform’s OTT service and mobile app. Pre- and post-match coverage will come from studios in Cape Town and Madrid.
Free-to-air rights remain with public broadcaster SABC, which struck a sub-license deal with rights-holder New World TV in December and currently holds broadcast rights to all South African men’s and women’s national team matches through 2028. SportyTV is the premium layer launched in South Africa last year with rights to the revamped FIFA Club World Cup.
Elías Gallego, Sporty Group’s vice president of business development, marketing and media, framed the ambition clearly. “We are building an ecosystem where content, technology, and engagement converge to deliver something entirely new to fans,” he said. “The FIFA World Cup 2026 is the perfect stage to showcase that vision.”
The timing matters with Bafana Bafana back at a World Cup for the first time since they hosted it in 2010. And the draw couldn’t have scripted it better. South Africa’s opening match is against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 11, the exact fixture that kicked off the 2010 tournament on home soil, a match which finished 1-1.