MBABANE – The escalating cost of global football is beginning to cast a long shadow over the Kingdom of Eswatini.
As the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) projects record-breaking revenues of $11 billion (over E179 billion) for the 2023–2026 cycle, small-market broadcasters are feeling the squeeze of a commercial landscape that increasingly favours those with the deepest pockets.
Eswatini TV, the national broadcaster, is yet to formalise its plans for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Historically, the station has relied on sub-licensing agreements to bring the global game to local screens. This model proved successful during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, where Eswatini TV that was bolstered by partnerships with Eswatini Mobile and KFC Eswatini delivered live nationwide coverage and hosted popular fan parks.
However, the 2026 landscape is more complex. The Togo-based New World TV now holds a major portion of media rights for Sub-Saharan Africa. While New World TV will broadcast matches on an exclusive pay-TV basis across 19 specific territories, it is also tasked with sub-licensing 34 matches for free-to-air exploitation across 43 territories, including Eswatini.
The challenge for Eswatini TV lies in the price tag. Global trends suggest a growing tension between FIFA’s revenue targets and local affordability. In India, asking prices reportedly ranged from E572 million to E1.6 billion to just to secure a partner. For a small nation, such volatility is daunting.
While giants like SuperSport MultiChoice and SportyTV secure pay-TV dominance in larger markets like South Africa and Nigeria, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has already clinched a free-to-air deal via New World TV, Eswatini waits in the wings.
With the tournament expanding to 48 teams, the ‘beautiful game’ has never been more expensive. For Eswatini TV, the coming weeks will be a high-stakes negotiation to ensure that local fans are not left in the dark while the rest of the world tunes in.
The FIFA World Cup will be held in north America from June 11.
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