The cult of the individual means the Ballon d’Or is almost as big as the World Cup itself these days, and with Lamine Yamal and Erling Haaland now on the scene – and more than capable of upstaging Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar – this summer’s tournament is packed with alphas.
The real ones, however, already know the star of the show.
A VPN (virtual private network) will take your World Cup viewing experience to the next level, especially if you plan to spend any time in the US, where all matches are securely locked behind a paywall.
Almost everywhere else, a significant number of games (if not all 104) are free. Fans in the UK, Australia and Ireland, for example, are among the luckiest in the world because they get free wall-to-wall coverage.
However, if you travel abroad, that free coverage will be blocked… unless you have a VPN on hand. Here’s our quick guide to watching the World Cup with a VPN.
What is a VPN?
A VPN is a very smart but inexpensive and easy-to-use tool that can redirect your Internet traffic through servers located almost anywhere in the world.
It may be helpful to think of them as Internet wormholes.
Use a VPN to connect to a server located in the UK and your device will behave as if it were physically in the UK.
What do VPNs do?
One of the most popular use cases for VPNs is bypassing geo-restrictions.
Geo-restrictions are what broadcasters use to block TV shows, movies, and sports coverage in specific countries. They’re the reason why your Netflix library looks so different when you go on holiday abroad and why local platforms, like BBC iPlayer in the UK and SBS on Demand in Australia, don’t work anywhere else.
If you have a vacation or work trip planned that overlaps with the World Cup, geographic restrictions will prevent you from accessing your preferred coverage of the tournament.
A VPN will solve this problem. If you’re British and spend time abroad, for example, you won’t be able to access BBC or ITV World Cup coverage. However, use a VPN to connect to a UK server and, like magic, you’ll be able to stream football exactly as you would at home.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
VPNs also encrypt your browsing data, making it much harder for cybercriminals, advertisers, and even governments to track your online activities, and in some cases, are even known to improve connection speeds.
Which World Cup broadcasters can VPNs unblock?
BBC iPlayer and ITVX in the UK, SBS on demand in Australia, and RTÉ Player in Ireland are providing free World Cup coverage this summer and in our extensive testing we’ve managed to unblock them all.
Which VPNs work for streaming the World Cup?
From our extensive testing, we’re confident that each of the best VPNs on the market will help you unblock your World Cup stream, but the one we recommend above all is Norton VPN.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Access a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protect your online security and strengthen your online privacy when you are abroad. We do not support or tolerate illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Future Publishing does not endorse or approve the consumption of paid pirated content.
