Original content joins extensive archive and live matches on free service
FIFA has launched FIFA+, a free direct-to-consumer streaming platform with original content, live matches, archive, and more.
It also includes interactive games, news, and tournament information, with the aim of connecting directly to fans worldwide. It is available across all web and mobile devices, with a range of connected devices to be added soon. It launches with five language editions (English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish), with an additional six languages to follow in June of 2022.
The federation has big ambitions for the platform, with over 40,000 live matches-a-year from over 100 member federations to be streamed through it by the end of 2022. This includes 11,000 women’s matches, and 1,400 matches-per-month from launch - which will increase rapidly.
In addition, it will be home to every FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup™ match ever recorded on camera, totalling more than 2,000 hours of archive content. It will launch with over 2,500 videos on the service, including full-match replays, highlights, goals and magical moments going back to the 1950s. More will be added throughout the year.
There is also a data offering, with the match centre providing information from 400 men’s competitions and 65 women’s competitions. It also contains a daily feed of news from around the world of men’s and women’s football, and interactive games including votes, quizzes, fantasy games and predictors.
The original content will feature full-length documentaries, docuseries, talk shows and shorts - localised into 11 languages, telling stories from local grassroots to national teams and footballing heroes past and present from more than 40 countries. It launches with eight shows available, ranging from interview series HD Cutz - which you can find out more about here - to feature documentary Ronaldinho: The Happiest Man In The World, to behind-the-scenes series Captains: Season 1, and more. Commissioning editor and content lead for global originals, James Abraham, spoke to Broadcast Sport about what FIFA+ is looking for here.
FIFA+ launch original content
Ronaldinho: The Happiest Man in the World - An exclusive, feature-length documentary offering extensive access to and never-seen-before archive of one of the most iconic players to have played the game. The 90-minute film directed by Stuart and Andrew Douglas, produced by Bernie Goldmann and by Simon Horsman and Jeffrey Soros of Los Angeles Media Fund, tells the unique story of the player’s life, charting his rise from the streets of Brazil to becoming one of football’s most loved players. Lionel Messi, Frank Rijkaard and Carles Puyol all feature and reveal what this FIFA Legend means to them.
Captains: Season 1 - A ground-breaking 8-part series from Fulwell 73 (Sunderland ‘Til I Die, All or Nothing: Juventus) following six captains as they lead their countries through qualification for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. The series, which will explore each individual’s leadership traits, features Luka Modrić (Croatia), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Brian Kaltak (Vanuatu), Andre Blake (Jamaica), Hassan Maatouk (Lebanon) and Thiago Silva (Brazil).
Croatia: Defining a Nation - This original feature-length documentary tells the story of how football unites and binds this nation and a group of friends who reached global recognition against the backdrop of the most extreme adversity. They each became legends and painted their country across the world. From acclaimed director Louis Myles (Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never to Play Football, Liverpool FC: The 30-Year Wait).
HD Cutz - An original 8-part docuseries with barber to the stars Sheldon Edwards talking food, fashion, music and, sometimes, football. Featuring the likes of Paul Pogba and Antonio Rüdiger, produced by MOTIF Pictures and Fever Media.
Dani Crazy Dream - An all-access 6 x 30-minute documentary series featuring Dani Alves, the most decorated player in history as he tries to make it to the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. Produced by Alves’s own production company, Maracanã Media.
Golden Boot - An original 4 x 48-minute docuseries interviewing the greatest FIFA World Cup goalscorers, produced by Goalhanger Films (Wayne Rooney: The Man Behind the Goals). Episode 1 sees Gary Lineker sitting down with Brazilian great Ronaldo Nazário to rewatch the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Icons - A 5 x 26-minute docuseries showcasing five of the biggest game-changers of the women’s game: Wendie Renard, Lucy Bronze, Asisat Oshoala, Carli Lloyd and Sam Kerr telling their stories in their own words. Produced by Noah Media Group (14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, Finding Jack Charlton).
Academies - The inside story of some of the greatest talent production lines in world football from Shoot the Company. Season 1 tells the story of RSC Anderlecht across 3 x 30-minute episodes.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino- said: “FIFA+ represents the next step in our vision to make football truly global and inclusive, and it underpins FIFA’s core mission of expanding and developing football globally.
“This project represents a cultural shift in the way different types of football fans want to connect with and explore the global game and has been a fundamental part of my Vision 2020-2023. It will accelerate the democratisation of football and we are delighted to share it with fans.”
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