Men’s FIFA World Cup 2022 on the BBC
FIFA #FIFA
Published: 11:00 am, 4 November 2022
The wait for the Men’s FIFA World Cup 2022 is nearly over, with the BBC set to bring fans 24/7 access to all the action, analysis and entertainment across TV, iPlayer, Radio, Sounds and Online.
With 33 live games on BBC TV and iPlayer, and coverage of every single game on BBC Radio 5 Live, fans can catch every minute of this winter’s World Cup.
Alongside live match coverage, the BBC will also present an unrivalled offering of documentaries, podcasts and other content throughout the tournament.
Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, says: “For Qatar 2022, the BBC will unite across TV, radio and online to deliver our most comprehensive and holistic World Cup offering yet.
“England’s opener, Wales’ key game against Iran and the huge home nations clash between Wales and England are all exclusively live on the BBC. Our non-stop coverage and content will be brought to viewers and listeners by an unrivalled squad of the best presenters, ex-players and experts. Together, they will offer all football fans the very best insight, commentary, analysis and entertainment.”
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The BBC’s World Cup Squad
Gary Lineker, Gabby Logan, Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates will lead coverage across TV, iPlayer and Radio. They will be joined by a host of former greats of the game. In the TV studio, Ex-England stars include Alan Shearer, Rio Ferdinand, Jermaine Jenas, Micah Richards, and Alex Scott with Danny Gabbidon, Ian Rush and Ashley Williams representing Wales. From further afield, Vincent Kompany, Didier Drogba, Laura Georges, Jürgen Klinsmann, Mark Schwarzer, Gilberto Silva and Pablo Zabaleta will bring their unique international insight to our TV coverage.
Kelly Cates will join Mark Chapman in fronting 5 Live’s coverage of every single game from the World Cup. Led by Football Correspondent John Murray, 5 Live’s football team includes Karen Bardsley, Izzy Christiansen, James Collins, Dion Dublin, Rob Green, Jayne Ludlow, Pat Nevin, Micah Richards, Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton, Matthew Upson and Stephen Warnock. Guillem Balagué, Julien Lauren and Tim Vickery will provide expert voices on South America, Europe and the rest of the world.
With you for every minute of the action, the BBC’s team of commentators include Guy Mowbray, Steve Wilson, Jonathan Pearce, Steve Bower, Robyn Cowen, Alistair Bruce Ball, Simon Davies, Ian Dennis, Pien Meulensteen, Conor McNamara, John Murray, Mark Scott and Vicki Sparks.
On co-comms, we have the likes of Karen Bardsley, James Collins, Dion Dublin, Maz Farookhi, Danny Gabbidon, Jermaine Jenas, Martin Keown, Jayne Ludlow, Clinton Morrison, Danny Murphy, Robbie Savage, Peter Schmeichel and Stephen Warnock.
Kelly Somers and Emma Saunders will report on the latest news from inside the England camp for TV news and 5 Live, while Catrin Heledd will report on Wales.
Live match Coverage
The BBC will air 33 live matches on TV and iPlayer across the 28 days of the tournament, while BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds will provide coverage of all 64 matches in Qatar. BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru will also cover all of Wales’ games.
Whether you are in the office, working from home, studying at college or out doing your Christmas shopping, BBC Sport Online has you covered.
With live video streaming of BBC Sport’s games and live audio commentary of every match on the BBC Sounds app, fans can follow the drama of all 64 games across any device.
BBC TV & iPlayer coverage kicks off with a mouth-watering week of games, after our exclusive live coverage of the opener between Qatar and Ecuador on Sunday 20 November.
Four of our home nation’s six group stage fixtures are live and exclusive on the BBC, including England’s opening match, Wales’ crucial match against Iran and the big home nation tie between Wales and England.
Other blockbuster games from the groups include Spain v Germany, as well as the first look at champions France, five-time winners Brazil and world number two, Belgium.
For TV and iPlayer, the BBC will have first pick of the Semi-Final stage of the tournament, along with three Round of 16 games, two Quarter Final games and, of course, the World Cup Final on 18 December.
Fans can watch the vast majority of the BBC’s games live in superb Ultra High Definition and High Dynamic Range to enjoy the best picture quality possible – all they’ll need is a compatible UHD TV and a high-speed internet connection.
Highlights of non-live games and selected replayed matches will be available on BBC One and BBC iPlayer throughout the tournament.
Fans will be able to watch highlights of every match and all the goals on TV, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website. The BBC Sport website will also be home to our hugely-popular live pages where you can watch clips of all the goals as they go in, as well as the best reaction and punditry after games.
Online
Our industry-leading FIFA World Cup coverage will be available on the BBC Sport app for mobile and tablet and online at bbc.co.uk/football and bbc.co.uk/worldcup
As well as providing audiences with the best live match coverage, highlights, reaction and news, BBC Sport’s digital services will be home to an array of ways to engage with the FIFA World Cup.
Digital & Editorial
Fancy yourself as a national team boss? England and Wales supporters will be able to pick their preferred starting line-ups for each game via the BBC Sport website and app, easily comparing and sharing via social media.
Fans will also have the opportunity to rate every player out of 10 for every FIFA World Cup match through an interactive second-screen experience on the BBC Sport app. Submit and share your ratings with friends and see what the rest of the world thinks. BBC Sport will use the ratings to help pick our Team of the Tournament.
More brand new digital content will be announced in the build up to the World Cup.
Throughout the tournament, there will be an array of high-quality content to read and watch before and during the FIFA World Cup.
As well as match previews, reports, reaction and breaking news, other editorial highlights include:
Ahead of and throughout the tournament, platforms like BBC News Online, BBC Wales News and Cymru Fyw will have all the daily updates from Qatar on England and Wales, as well as features with players, families and the fans. There will be news coverage of all the games and major events in England and Wales, including the squad announcement.
Elsewhere, exclusively on BBC Sounds, World Cup Ballers will see some of football’s biggest stars go back to back with some of the BBC’s biggest DJs, forming a special music mix. Listeners will hear combinations such as Danny Howard and England Keeper Jordan Pickford, Jack Saunders and Wales Striker Kieffer Moore, and more.
Also only on BBC Sounds, listeners can enjoy hours of uninterrupted World Cup content just by pressing play on ‘All Day Football’ at the top of the podcast page.
Social Media
The BBC will showcase all the must-see moments on social media, including more behind-the-scenes content from your favourite Match of the Day pundits than ever before on Instagram and TikTok.
BBC Sport’s YouTube channel will feature highlights of every game, while Facebook will deliver a mix of news stories, imagery and video – including match action – to our followers. Twitter will be the best place to tune in for in-play updates and breaking news.
5 Live Sport and BBC Sport Wales socials will be home to bespoke digital content straight from within the England and Wales camps.
We’ve also got you covered with vertical video. All the best action from the matches – as well as the lighter side of the FIFA World Cup – will be delivered via Instagram Reels and TikTok.
Podcasts and Radio Programming
BBC Radio 5 Live
Away from live commentaries and match coverage, look no further than 5 Live and BBC Sounds for your daily, go-to World Cup content.
The UKs most comprehensive and entertaining World Cup podcast, 5 Live’s World Cup Daily will be available every single day of Qatar 2022 on BBC Sounds. Launching on 14 November, the podcast will be your daily dose of World Cup analysis, debate and news. With reporters in both the England and Wales camps, World Cup Daily will bring fans closer to the players, coaches and managers throughout the tournament.
From 14 November, Match of the Day Top 10 returns for a brand new series. Join Gary Lineker, Micah Richards and Alan Shearer as they focus on the biggest tournament of all… the World Cup. Throughout the series, they will discuss the greatest goals, the most shocking moments and the biggest upsets. Fans can listen on BBC Sounds or watch on BBC iPlayer. Episodes will drop daily between 14-23 November.
BBC Radio Wales
BBC Radio Wales will be the home of former Wales skipper Ashley Williams who will be hosting a special phone-in show during the tournament, while Rob Phillips will host his popular post-match programme. Wales Women star Jess Fishlock will also be joining the team providing live coverage.
There will be broadcasts from the Gŵyl Cymru/Bucket Hat Tour, as well as from the Wrexham Festival of Football and during the Urdd Jamboree, Radio Wales will welcome 100,000 children for a World Cup Singalong.
Eleri Sion will present a football-themed Afternoon Show and All Things Considered will have a football and ethics special. Meanwhile the Feast of Football podcast will have daily episodes from Qatar presented by Simon Davies.
Three new programmes have been commissioned that will be available to listen to:
Radio Cymru and Radio Cymru 2
BBC Radio Cymru will have live coverage of all of Wales’ group games and will be broadcasting live from the Gŵyl Cymru Tour during the tournament.
Additionally, there will be an array of Content for audiences to listen to live and on-demand on BBC Sounds:
TV Documentaries and Additional Programming
Two BBC Sport documentaries will accompany build-up to the start of the World Cup.
The first, already available on BBC iPlayer, is Messi. Ahead of what is expected to be his World Cup farewell, this wide-reaching documentary digs deep to gain a detailed understanding of the real Lionel Messi, including incredible footage of the Argentinean superstar as a child prodigy – it is Messi as you’ve never seen him before. The documentary, which will feature interviews with Pablo Zabaleta, Javier Mascherano, Hernan Crespo and Rio Ferdinand, will air on BBC One on Saturday 19November at 10.55pm.
Dropping on BBC iPlayer on Friday 4 November, How To Win The World Cup will take the viewer deep into the dressing room to hear incredible tales from the past three World Cup-winning teams, France (2018), Germany (2014) and Spain (2010). This is the inside story of how to lift the most famous trophy in the world, told by tournament winners including Germany’s Manuel Neuer, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Per Mertesacker and Jurgen Klinsmann, Spain’s Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas and France’s Olivier Giroud and Marcel Desailly. The programme will air on BBC One at 10.30pm on Sunday 20 November.
As Wales prepare for their first World Cup in 64 years, Welsh football fans will be treated to a variety of new series and programmes launching in the build-up to, and during, the World Cup.
All of the following programmes will be available on BBC iPlayer or broadcast on BBC One Wales:
Newyddion S4C and Wales Today will also be live from Qatar with special programmes throughout the tournament.
Group stage TV schedule
Date
Kick Off
Match
Broadcaster
20 November
4pm
Qatar v Ecuador
BBC One
21 November
1pm
England v Iran
BBC One
4pm
Senegal v Netherlands
ITV
7pm
USA v Wales
ITV
22 November
10am
Argentina v Saudi Arabia
ITV
1pm
Denmark v Tunisia
ITV
4pm
Mexico v Poland
BBC One
7pm
France v Australia
BBC One
23 November
10am
Morocco v Croatia
ITV
1pm
Germany v Japan
ITV
4pm
Spain v Costa Rica
ITV
7pm
Belgium v Canada
BBC One
24 November
10am
Switzerland v Cameroon
ITV
1pm
Uruguay v South Korea
BBC One
4pm
Portugal v Ghana
ITV
7pm
Brazil v Serbia
BBC One
25 November
10am
Wales v Iran
BBC One
1pm
Qatar v Senegal
BBC One
4pm
Netherlands v Ecuador
ITV
7pm
England v USA
ITV
26 November
10am
Tunisia v Australia
BBC One
1pm
Poland v Saudi Arabia
ITV
4pm
France v Denmark
ITV
7pm
Argentina v Mexico
ITV
27 November
10am
Japan v Costa Rica
ITV
1pm
Belgium v Morocco
BBC One
4pm
Croatia v Canada
BBC One
7pm
Spain v Germany
BBC One
28 November
10am
Cameroon v Serbia
ITV
1pm
South Korea v Ghana
BBC One
4pm
Brazil v Switzerland
ITV
7pm
Portugal v Uruguay
ITV
29 November
3pm
Ecuador v Senegal
ITV
3pm
Netherlands v Qatar
ITV
7pm
Iran v USA
BBC Two
7pm
Wales v England
BBC One
30 November
3pm
Tunisia v France
BBC One
3pm
Australia v Denmark
BBC Two
7pm
Poland v Argentina
BBC One
7pm
Saudi Arabia v Mexico
BBC Two
1 December
3pm
Canada v Morocco
BBC Two
3pm
Croatia v Belgium
BBC One
7pm
Japan v Spain
ITV
7pm
Costa Rica v Germany
ITV
2 December
3pm
Ghana v Uruguay
BBC One
3pm
South Korea v Portugal
BBC Two
7pm
Serbia v Switzerland
ITV
7pm
Cameroon v Brazil
ITV