Overview
- Deutsche Telekom's MagentaTV holds exclusive rights to the 2026 tournament and will sublicense 60 matches, split evenly between ARD and ZDF.
- If Germany qualifies, ARD and ZDF will share the national team’s fixtures while MagentaTV remains the only platform showing every game.
- MagentaTV is planning a full on-site operation with Thomas Müller as lead expert, Johannes B. Kerner as host, and Wolff Fuß among its commentators.
- ZDF intends to anchor coverage primarily from a studio in Germany for cost reasons, with a smaller reporter presence on location, while ARD’s final setup awaits budget decisions but targets Bastian Schweinsteiger and Esther Sedlaczek on-site.
- Germany leads its qualifying group after October wins, faces Luxembourg on 14 November and Slovakia on 17 November for direct qualification, and awaits the 5 December group-stage draw in Washington, D.C.