Optus Sport lands 2023 Women’s World Cup broadcast rights

Optus Sport has landed the coveted local broadcasting rights to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in a major coup for the telco.

The deal will see all 64 matches at the tournament shown live in Australia behind a paywall on Optus’ streaming service, which is already home to the English Premier League, FA Women’s Super League and other overseas leagues and competitions.

Matildas star Steph Catley celebrates the awarding of the 2023 Women’s World Cup hosting rights to Australia and New Zealand. The tournament will be broadcast in Australia on Optus Sport.Credit:Getty Images

However, one match every day of the tournament – including key matches like finals, and all games involving the Matildas – will be shown on free-to-air television through a sub-licensing deal – details of which were not revealed in Optus’ announcement on Friday morning. The value of the agreement was also not disclosed.

All free-to-air networks and other streamers, including Amazon Prime, were believed to be interested in the Women’s World Cup rights but have been trumped by Optus, who were a media rights licencee for the last edition of the tournament held in France in 2019.

“Optus has shown a strong commitment to broadcasting women’s football and this deal will provide unprecedented coverage in Australia for the tournament, as well as bringing women’s football to more fans and new audiences,” said FIFA’s chief women’s football officer Sarai Bareman in a statement.

“We look forward to working with Optus to promote the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 to accelerate the growth of the women’s game in Australia in the lead up to 2023.”

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held from July 20 to August 20, across nine host cities in 10 stadiums in both Australia and New Zealand. The final will be held at Sydney’s Stadium Australia.

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