Matildas and Socceroos fans dudded as broadcasting deal showcases ugly new football reality

A new landmark broadcast deal between Football Australia and Paramount Australia is being billed as a giant win for Australian football but the reality is it is far from what Aussie sports fans wanted. The four-year agreement will see Network 10 and Paramount+ broadcast all matches involving the Socceroos and the Matildas – except for the next Men's World Cup.

Notably, the Matildas' next two major tournaments - the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup, hosted by Australia, and the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil - will be part of the new arrangement. However, the vast majority of games at both events will be shown behind the Paramount+ paywall. Only six matches of the Asian Cup and 15 from the Women's World Cup will be on free-to-air. It would be anticipated that the games on free-to-air would showcase the Matildas, however, football fans will have to cough up just shy of $100 a year if they don't want to miss any of the Matildas and Socceroos' matches over the next four years.

The move comes after Network 10 came under fire in July for putting the Matildas' final tune-up match before the Olympics against Canada behind a paywall. While Socceroos fans were dudded in a similar fashion in June, with the Australian side's World Cup qualifier against Bangladesh exclusively on Paramount+.

The Matildas broke several Australian TV viewership records during their run to the semi-finals at last year’s Women’s FIFA World Cup on home soil and showed the value in attaining the rights to broadcast their games. And Paramount Australia's move to put several matches in the coming years exclusively on Paramount+ will help the company drive more subscribers to the streaming service, with subscriptions starting from $6.99 per month.

Around half of Australian international matches behind paywall

There will be more than 100 Socceroos and Matildas matches in the latest broadcast cycle and roughly half of them will be behind a paywall. Just six matches from the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup (which doubles as the qualification tournament for the Women’s World Cup) and 15 from the Women’s World Cup will be able to be viewed on free-to-air.

There will also be 15 Matildas friendlies and 10 Socceroos friendlies over the next four years shown on free-to-air, with the rest on Paramount+. The federal government’s anti-siphoning list states that only World Cup matches involving the two senior national teams, and World Cup qualifiers played in Australia, have to be shown on free-to-air television. This means Paramount Australia can opt to put other crucial matches overseas on its streaming platform. And many football fans feel angered by the latest deal, feeling forced to take up a subscription just to support the national sides.

Being an Australian sports fan is becoming increasingly costly

The latest deal is another indication that the landscape of live sports in Australia continues to shift towards streaming services. As well as around half of the Socceroos and Matildas matches only being able to be viewed live on Paramount+, Aussie sports fans have to stump up for multiple streaming subscriptions.

The EPL sets Australian viewers back an incredible $24.99 a month on Optus Sport, the Champions League is exclusive to Stan Sport and certain AFL and NRL games each week are exclusive to Kayo. This has made Australian sports lovers' lives a whole lot more difficult and a whole lot more expensive. And the latest Football Australia deal only adds to Aussie sports fans' woes.

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But the president of Network 10 and Paramount Australia's head of streaming and regional lead, Beverley McGarvey, believes it is more than a fair price. “There are more matches behind the paywall because there are more matches overall in terms of the national team games,” McGarvey said.

“There’ll be about 100 and half of them will be in front of the paywall. In terms of how we work it out, there are certain games that are big events, that are of national importance, that absolutely should be free-to-air, that the whole country absolutely will want to see. For the economics of the deal to make sense, of course, content has to live on Paramount+. The price point is $6.99 (per month) so if you’re a sports fan, if you’re a soccer fan ... it’s a fairly efficient entry point.”

Layout of new Australian football broadcast deal:

• Socceroos qualifiers for the 2026 men's World Cup (home matches ONLY on free-to-air, the rest shown exclusively on Paramount+)

• 2026 Women’s Asian Cup (six matches will be on free-to-air, the rest exclusively on Paramount+)

• 2027 Women’s World Cup (15 matches on free-to-air, the rest exclusively on Paramount+)

• 2027 men’s Asian Cup (EVERY match exclusively on Paramount+)

• Socceroos and Matildas friendlies 2025-2028 (15 Matildas friendlies, 10 Socceroos friendlies on free-to-air, the rest exclusively on Paramount+)

• Australia Cup finals 2025-2028

• AFC U23 men’s Asian Cup 2026 and 2028