Across Africa, there is no consistent local radio coverage of the World Cup,
In South Africa, tune into the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which holds the official free-to-air broadcast rights. You can listen to the live calls on various SABC radio stations or stream them directly via the SABC+ app.
In Kenya, the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is the official broadcaster. Tune in via your local KBC FM/AM radio frequencies for live local-language and English commentary.
In Ghana, the Multimedia Group and the national broadcaster GBC will provide live match coverage on radio.
New World TV has the ability to sub-licence broadcast rights to African radio stations as well as tv broadcasters.
In some countries you will need to use a VPN to get geoblocked access to any other legitimate international radio account that you may have.
SEN has secured the Australian radio rights for World Cup 2026 football coverage in Australia. Simon Hill and Archie Thompson are on deck to call matches throughout the 48-nation tournament across SEN’s various radio chanels. A broadcast schedule is here.
To listen in America, tune to SiriusXM and iHeartRadio which have the rights. Calls can be heard on SiriusXM‘s satellite channel 83, as well as through the SiriusXM app and website. iHeart Radio’s match day calls can be heard here and on more than 100 iHeart terrestrial radio stations.
In Britain, you can listen to radio calls of matches on the BBC and talkSPORT. BBC Radio 5 has live calls, and matches can also be heard on the BBC Sounds App and website. talkSPORT calls can be heard across the UK on a range of AM and DAB+ frequencies, plus on the talkSPORT website and app.
If you are travelling outside your home country and want to access your geoblocked radio streaming account for coverage use a VPN, such as ExpressVPN
Across Europe, live calls are on: Italy’s Rai Radio 1, Germany’s WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk), and in France on RMC (Radio Monte Carloo)
Exorbitant ticket prices, politics and immigration restrictions have been the talking points in the lead up to the competition, but now that games have begun the focus is on the football.
Matches began on 11 June and will continue until 18 July. Australia’s first match, against Türkiye, takes place in Vancouver, heard in Australia on Sunday 14 June June at 2pm Sydney time.
Click the graphic to download a pdf of the full schedule.
Other channels are also covering the competition in reports and updates. For a catch up of the mood in Mexico during the opening ceremony, ABC’s Amanda Shalala was on the streets reporting on the party atmosphere and also the deeper issues and opinions in Mexico about hosting the World Cup.
The World Cup is being hosted across three countries in the Americas: Mexico, America and Canada.
A range of podcasts are also available for World Cup fans, including ABC Radio’s dedicated World Cup podcast, hosted by Patrick Stack and featuring Socceroos legend Mark Schwarzer and ABC voice of soccer Ned Hall with crosses to Amanda Shalala.
talkSPORT’s World Cup Shootout podcast is also available, with Andy Harperat Sasso and Teo Pellizzeri, joined by former Socceroos players and talkSPORT’s experts with the network.
Claudio Fabiano is one of the SBS reporters covering the World Cup. In this episode of the SBS Italian program, the 29 year old reporter talks about how he grew up listening to soccer coverage on SBS Radio with his parents and grandparents, who migrated to Australia from Italy. Now he is proud that his grandmother can listen to him on the radio station that welcomed her to Australia so many years ago.
SABC FIFA World Cup 2026
Matches generally take place between 3:00 PM and 4:00 AM (SAST) in the Africa time zones.
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