The five-week festival of football kicks off on Thursday evening, and fans in Finland can watch every match thanks to a shared broadcasting deal between Yle and MTV.
The 2026 World Cup Finals will kick off on Thursday evening at 10pm Finnish time, when co-hosts Mexico play South Africa in the opening game.
Fans can look forward to a festival of football, as a record 48 teams will compete in an expanded tournament over the course of the next five and a half weeks.
Yle will share the rights with commercial broadcaster MTV, meaning audiences in Finland can watch every one of the tournament’s 104 matches. Yle has secured the rights to the final, which will be played at 10pm Finnish time on Sunday 19 July.
Although Finland did not qualify, there is nevertheless huge interest in the competition — especially among the country’s immigrant communities as they cheer on their own home nations.
Finns will also be keen to see how their Nordic neighbours Sweden and Norway get on.
Argentina are the reigning champions, but European giants France and Spain are widely considered to be the pre-tournament favourites.
The matches shown by Yle can be followed on Yle TV2, Yle Areena and on the Yle app. There will also be extensive highlights of the games broadcast by MTV.
There is a full list here (in Finnish) of all the games Yle will be showing.
