The FIFA World Cup is back this year from 11 June to 19 July, and it’s bigger than it has ever been. For 2026, the tournament is being expanded to 48 teams and 104 matches spread across 16 cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Earlier this year, Mediacorp announced that it had secured exclusive rights to broadcast all 104 matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. For those of us interested in the cost side of things, here’s a breakdown of every way you can catch the action and what it will set you back.
Time Difference + Free-To-Air Matches
North America sits on the opposite side of the clock from us which actually works in our favour this time around (finally). Most group stage matches will kick off at 6am, 8am, or 9am Singapore time (SGT), with later rounds generally running from around 9am into the evening. Compared to the last two World Cups in Qatar and Russia, when we had to wake up in the middle of the night, the timing for this year’s matches is far more manageable.
The biggest change for 2026 is the expansion of free coverage. In 2022, Singaporeans could watch just nine matches for free. In 2026, that number jumped to 28 matches on Channel 5 and meWATCH. These include the opening match, 23 group stage fixtures, both semi-finals, the third-place playoff, and the final. If you are a casual fan who mainly wants to catch the big moments, you probably won’t need to pay a single dollar. Streaming on meWATCH is available via its app on mobile, tablet, and desktop, so you do not even need a TV to access it.
The Season Pass: All 104 Matches
If you want full coverage of every match, you will need to purchase the FIFA World Cup 2026 Season Pass. You can get it directly from Mediacorp (via meWATCH) or from its carriage partners Singtel and StarHub. Regardless of which platform you subscribe through, the pricing and coverage are identical.
The early bird price, available until 30 April 2026, is $98 (inclusive of GST). After that, the standard price rises to S$118. Both figures are unchanged from the 2022 tournament. At S$98, you are getting 104 live matches in HD, which works out to be under S$1 per match. The pass is accessible on StarHub TV+ (Channels 251 and 252), the Singtel TV platform, and on meWATCH. Subscribers can also watch on-demand replays, which is genuinely useful if a 6am match is not something you want to wake up for.
How Does 2026 Compare To Previous World Cups?
Singapore’s World Cup pricing has been a sore point for fans for years, so it is worth putting the 2026 numbers in context against the past two editions. For the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the Season Pass was priced at $94.16 (early bird) and $112.35 (standard). That covered 64 matches across 32 teams, the same format the tournament had used for decades. For that tournament, the early bird window ran for 27 days, from 25 April to 22 May 2018.
In 2022, for the Qatar edition, prices edged up slightly to $98 (early bird) and $118 (standard) — still for 64 matches. The increase was modest, but it added to a pattern of creeping costs that frustrated fans who remembered paying far less in earlier years. Strangely, the timing of the pricing announcement meant the early-bird price of $98 was only available for 7 days.
For 2026, the headline is that the pricing has been held flat at $98 and $118 despite the tournament growing by 40 additional matches. On a per-match basis, this is objectively the best value the Season Pass has ever had. In 2022, $98 worked out to roughly $1.53 per match. In 2026, the same $98 covers 104 matches (given the expanded format), bringing the cost per match down to around $0.94.
Read Also: FIFA 2014 World Cup Subscription – Why We Are Paying More Than The Rest Of The World
What Will It Actually Cost You?
If you are a casual fan, the honest answer can simply be “nothing”. The 28 free matches on Channel 5 and meWATCH cover all the matches most people care about, namely the opening match, key knockout matches and the final four. That is more than enough football to stay engaged for the full tournament. If you are a hardcore fan who wants every match, the Season Pass at $98 during the early bird window is the most competitively priced it has ever been on a per-match basis. Since the early-bird window closes on 30 April, make sure you subscribe as soon as possible before you forget and end up paying $20 more.
