Everyone has Netflix, and if you don’t have Netflix, you’re not proving the point you think you are. The streaming service transitioned from just that, a mere streaming service, to a $45.18 billion empire that produces its own series and films that rival, and a lot of the time betters, the likes of Warner Brothers. Stranger Things, for example, is one of the top 10 series ever made, and it was a Netflix original.
Netflix has nearly 325 million paid subscribers, but market research and viewership metrics estimate that Netflix’s true total global viewership reaches over 750 million people.
It’s massive, but one area they’ve not quite tapped into, as their competitors Amazon Prime and Disney have, is live sports. Now, it seems that’s about to change. Read on to find out more.
The Live Streaming Rights Netflix Has Already Secured
Netflix actually has its foot in the door, just not as much as Amazon Prime and Disney have.
The biggest recent development is that Netflix has already acquired major soccer rights, with the exclusive rights in the United States to the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup competitions, a deal that later expanded to Canada. We’ll definitely see a lot of those games on 10bet (10bet.co.za), and it’s exciting that people can now follow closely with Netflix.
Netflix says both tournaments will stream live on the platform in the US and Canada, with multilingual coverage in English and Spanish in the US, and English and French in Canada.
Netflix’s pattern suggests it prefers premium, global, event-style rights rather than full-season domestic league commitments, but we would argue it’s the domestic league commitments that would draw in long-term viewership rather than people just paying for a month to watch the game.
That said, the FIFA Women’s World Cup does attract a lot of attention because of its limited duration, cultural significance, and the fact that it’s easier to market as a major entertainment event than hundreds of weekly fixtures.
What Netflix is Trying to Do With Live Sports
Netflix’s live-sports strategy looks selective rather than all-in. It has added NFL Christmas games, WWE Raw, boxing events, FIFA Women’s World Cup, MLB special events, and a shared Formula 1 moment through its partnership with Apple TV, but nothing direct through Netflix.
Its live content move doesn’t position it as becoming ESPN overnight, but it does create must-watch moments that drive subscriptions.
The company’s biggest proof-of-concept was Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, which Netflix said drew 108 million live global viewers, making it one of the most visible examples of how a streaming platform can turn a live sports-adjacent event into a global entertainment spectacle.
Interestingly, it was that event that exposed so many weaknesses. Users reported buffering and streaming issues that created questions about whether Netflix’s infrastructure was ready for regular top-tier live sports.
How Amazon Prime and Disney Have Already Done It
Amazon is the best example of a tech/streaming company successfully streaming live sport.
In the UK, Prime Video has UEFA Champions League coverage included with Prime membership, and Amazon also holds or sublicenses various soccer rights in different markets.
For Champions League coverage, it has pushed data-heavy viewing features such as Prime Vision, with real-time overlays for player names, speed, pass distance, shot speed, positioning and expected goals-style information.
In soccer terms, Amazon’s model has been:
- Buy premium rights to games
- Prove reliability
- Integrate sport into its subscription ecosystem
- Use technology to make the coverage feel modern
And what they’re doing is working so well.
Disney is also deep into sports operations through ESPN, so its move into streaming sports is more evolutionary. ESPN+ has long carried soccer rights in the US, including LaLiga through the 2028–29 season, with LaLiga saying ESPN+ became the English and Spanish-language home for the league in the US under an eight-season agreement.
Disney+ has also entered European soccer directly. In May 2025, Disney announced a five-year deal making Disney+ the home of the UEFA Women’s Champions League across Europe from the 2025–26 season through 2029–30, with every match live at no extra cost for subscribers.
That move is especially relevant to your article because it mirrors Netflix’s own women’s soccer strategy. Both companies appear to see women’s soccer as a growth market where rights may still be more affordable than men’s elite soccer, but the audience upside is significant.
Why Soccer Makes Sense For Netflix
Soccer is the most-watched global sport, and Netflix is the most-watched global platform. Putting the two together makes sense.
It’s not like the NFL, which is huge in the US but less dominant internationally; soccer can give Netflix relevance across Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and North America. The FIFA Women’s World Cup deal gives Netflix a massive test to discover if it can take e a global soccer tournament and package it with documentaries, studio coverage, social media clips and on-platform promotion.
It also fits Netflix’s existing playbook. Netflix helped popularise Formula 1 with Drive to Survive before moving closer to live F1 via the 2026 Apple partnership.
We doubt it will be long until Netflix really starts to take on the rights of soccer as Disney and Amazon Prime have done. It makes sense for the company, especially if their direct competitors are doing the same. Let’s see what rights they go for.
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