The Vietnam Television (VTV) has earned the right to broadcast live all 64 matches of the FIFA World Cup 2018 in the country, it announced on June 8^th.

VTV announces the news on its website (Source: VNA)

To this effect, an agreement was reached on June 8^th between VTV and the Federation International Football Association (FIFA) on World Cup 2018 communication rights in Vietnam as well as sharing right with the third parties.

The FIFA World Cup 2018 will take place in 12 stadiums in Russia from June 14^th to July 15^th.

The opening ceremony will take place at 8:00pm (Hanoi time) on June 14^th. The opening match between Russia and Arab Saudi is scheduled for 10:00pm the same day.

It is the third consecutive year that VTV has won World Cup broadcasting right in Vietnam. It spent USD 3.5 million in 2010 and USD 7 million in 2014 on the right.

Buying the TV rights for major football leagues is difficult for Vietnamese televisions, not only due to the high price, but the high number of illegal parties distributing, recording, and broadcasting the matches.

In March, Vietnam’s K+ television announced to have bought the rights to broadcast three seasons of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League (2018-2021) at reasonable prices.

However, on March 7^th, while K+ was broadcasting UEFA’s first match, a website illegally live streamed its broadcast of the match. The issue was discovered and handled by local authorities.

Previously, VTVcab also faced similar troubles and had twice sent documents to the Ministry of Information and Communications to handle websites illegally broadcasting UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is slated to kick off in Russia in the middle of this month. According to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), more than 200 countries and territories have already negotiated broadcast rights./.

VNF