- Broadcasters in France and Spain filed a formal complaint with FIFA
- Rightsholders Call ExpressVPN Partnership ‘Disastrous’
- ExpressVPN previously refused to implement sweeping anti-piracy blocking
FIFA’s decision to partner with ExpressVPN for the 2026 World Cup has sparked outrage among major European soccer broadcasters.
La Liga and French media giants including LFP Media and Canal+ have formally lodged a complaint with football’s governing body, criticizing the new sponsorship as a “disastrous” message for the football ecosystem, according to reports from French sports newspaper L’Equipe.
“The League considers that this agreement is manifestly incompatible with the principles of protection of football audiovisual rights that must govern the actions of the highest governing body of world football,” said La Liga president Javier Tebas.
Rights holders are furious that FIFA would accept sponsorship money from a company they had previously sued for “facilitating access to pirated content,” Tebas added.
In a statement to TechRadar, an ExpressVPN spokesperson strongly denies such allegations.
“Any suggestion that ExpressVPN has been ‘found guilty’ of facilitating piracy is wholly inaccurate; we have not been convicted of such conduct in any jurisdiction,” the company told us.
While reiterating that a virtual private network (VPN) is a privacy and security tool, “not a loophole for illegal activity,” ExpressVPN also argues that it has already submitted a framework to national and EU authorities to address the illegal distribution of copyrighted content, without breaking its no-logs VPN commitment.
For football fans and privacy advocates, this corporate clash highlights the growing tension between rights holders who want complete control over Internet traffic and privacy companies who advocate open and unrestricted access.
If you’re looking to protect your digital footprint, using the best VPN is essential to avoid unfair network restrictions and ensure that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or third-party organizations don’t monitor your online activity.
A clash between privacy and anti-piracy
In France, organizations such as the Association for the Protection of Sports Programs (APPS) have aggressively sought court orders forcing ISPs and technology companies to block access to pirated streams.
ExpressVPN has historically resisted these demands, refusing to implement network-wide blocks. This strong defense of an open Internet led to the VPN provider being formally condemned in the country, making the FIFA sponsorship announcement a bitter pill to swallow for French broadcasters.
The situation has similarly escalated in Spain, where the president of La Liga led a controversial crusade against illegal streaming. La Liga’s heavy-handed tactics have been heavily criticized by digital rights groups, especially after a recent anti-piracy campaign failed spectacularly, wrongly blocking more than 500,000 legitimate websites in Spain.
The Spanish league has also previously attempted to fine individual users and pressure tech platforms to hand over user data. Now that La Liga’s war on piracy is sweeping the internet in Spain, privacy experts have warned that its VPN could be the next target.
Despite immense legal pressure and the latest formal complaint to FIFA, major VPN providers have consistently argued that enforcing rightsholder site blocks fundamentally compromises the security and architecture of a privacy service.
In fact, NordVPN recently won a crucial legal battle in Spain over La Liga piracy fines, establishing a major victory for user privacy against copyright holders.
Meanwhile, the climate in France remains incredibly hostile to privacy tools.
Earlier this year, a French court backed the LFP and ordered major VPNs to block illegal football streams. This sweeping court order set a dangerous precedent, forcing the VPN industry to react to France’s aggressive order to block illegal streaming sites and defend the technical realities of zero-logs infrastructure.
