Geneva, 30 March 2012 – The European Broadcasting Union has secured all exclusive media rights for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ in Russia and 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar.

This new FIFA/EBU deal covers the rights for 37 countries* in Europe and represents a significant extension of the current FIFA-EBU contractual set-up for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ media rights.

Consequently, nearly 40 EBU Members will provide substantial free-to-air coverage of most matches in the next three FIFA World Cups™, including the already agreed 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil. 

EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot said: "We are honoured and proud that FIFA has placed its complete trust in the EBU and its participating Members for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups™ broadcast coverage. This contract is a humbling compliment, and testament to the EBU's reputation as an ideal partner in the sports media rights industry."

*Albania; Armenia; Austria;, Azerbaijan; Belarus; Belgium; Bosnia-Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Estonia; Georgia; Hungary; Iceland; Israel; Kazakhstan; Kosovo; Latvia; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxemburg; Macedonia; Malta; Moldova; Montenegro; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Republic of Ireland; Romania; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia; Switzerland; Turkey; Ukraine

About the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)

The EBU serves 85 national media organizations in 56 countries in and around Europe. It represents its Members and promotes the values and distinctiveness of public service media in Europe and around the world. The Eurovision and Euroradio networks deliver news, sports, events and music to EBU Members and other media organizations. Services to Members range from legal advice, technical standardization and development to coproduction and exchange of quality European content. For more information about the EBU: www.ebu.ch and www.eurovision.net