FIFA+ is the future of football streaming?

Yesterday a triumphant Gianni Infantino announced the launch of FIFA+, the digital platform that will revolutionize the way we watch international soccer by bringing more and more users to the show of the most beautiful game in the world for free. FIFA+ will allow access to live matches from every country on the globe, offering interactive games, news, tournament information, revolutionary and unprecedented video content, able to unite every football experience under a single shared storytelling. FIFA thus becomes the first sports federation in the world to have its own platform offering such an on-demand streaming content experience. 

By the end of 2022, FIFA+ is expected to showcase over 40,000 live matches, including 11,000 women's soccer matches, from over 100 different international federations. In addition, the gigantic FIFA match archive will be made available, which includes every World Cup match aired for over 2,000 hours of footage dating back to 1950. An immense archive that will finally be available to anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the history of FIFA competitions, including women's and youth competitions. Original products will also be created - FIFA Originals - available only on the platform. Documentaries dedicated to great champions of the past, such as Ronaldinho and Dani Alves, series that follow the path of national teams up to the most important event in international soccer, the Qatar World Cup 2022, and other formats created to celebrate the most important figures to have walked the soccer fields. 

For FIFA President Gianni Infantino, "this project represents a cultural shift in the way different types of soccer fans want to explore and engage with world soccer and has been a key part of my vision for 2020-2023. It will accelerate the democratization of soccer and we are delighted to share this project with fans." FIFA+ is a step forward in realizing our vision of a truly global and inclusive sport, and underscores FIFA's mission in increasingly expanding the boundaries of the soccer world.

The world of sports broadcasting is changing very rapidly, again the pandemic has accelerated processes already grafted on, and the need to have a platform that can compete with the big players becomes vital. It is no coincidence that tonight we will put ourselves in front of the Smart Tv to see Atletico Madrid-Manchester City on PrimeVideo, given how much Amazon's streaming platform has invested to enter an increasingly expensive and competitive market. It shelled out more than $1 billion to buy the broadcast rights to Thursday Night Football's 15 games for next season. But it wasn't alone in buying a piece of sports streaming rights. In the U.S., Disney bought ESPN, the largest U.S. sports broadcaster, in 2008, further expanding its portfolio of TV companies. And Netflix is questioning its owb strategy of not broadcasting live sporting events by trying to acquire the rights to F1, given the great success of the docuseries "Drive To Survive," which has revived interest in the world of cars racing. 

Not to mention the many private leagues that have had their own on-demand streaming service for years, like the NBA or the NFL, guaranteeing multiplatform access to every game at any time for an annual fee. A revolution that even we in Italy have experienced on a smaller scale with the passage of television rights of the Serie A from Sky to DAZN, then from a cable TV to a streaming platform. And now FIFA realizing the first OTT dedicated to international soccer could launch the domino effect on the entire European scene and not, going to touch those balances that for years hold the economic architecture in the relationship between clubs and federations made of television rights and advertising. It is too early to say in what direction this change could go, whether towards the one proclaimed by Infantino of greater accessibility and uniformity, or towards the Superleagues or similar ones based on the stars and stripes model, but there is no doubt that we are facing a novelty that will soon change the game.