Netflix has a couple of women’s soccer superstars in its sights to help cover the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
According to a report by Adam Crafton in The Athletic, the streaming giant has held talks with former U.S. women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe and Brazilian legend Marta to serve as analysts at next summer’s World Cup in Brazil, the first to be broadcast on Netflix. Per Crafton, Rapinoe is being targeted as a studio analyst. Marta, on the other hand, has had early-stage talks with the streamer, but those discussions are contingent on if the global icon, who will be 41 next summer, is not playing for her country.
The 2027 World Cup will be Netflix’s first major undertaking as a live sports broadcaster. The streamer has dipped its toe in plenty of other properties — a handful of NFL games here, a few MLB games there — but has not yet produced a whole event across a month-long time horizon. Luckily, the streamer will only have to worry about studio programming around the games and picking which announcers to call them, as FIFA’s Host Broadcasting Services (HBS) produces a world feed to distribute to broadcasters across the globe for each match.
That said, 32 days of live programming is no easy feat, particularly for a fledgling sports department. Netflix has so far made just one full-time on-air sports hire, Elle Duncan, who will presumably anchor much of the streamer’s World Cup coverage. Beyond Duncan, Netflix has tapped legendary broadcaster Andres Cantor to lead Spanish-language commentary for next summer’s event.
Rapinoe would instantly become the centerpiece of any World Cup coverage for Netflix, should she sign on for the gig. The former U.S. star is one of the most recognizable American soccer players in recent memory, winning two World Cups and appearing 203 times for the Stars and Stripes. While she does not have any formal broadcasting experience, Rapinoe hosted the popular A Touch More podcast with her former partner Sue Bird before the two announced they had split as a couple earlier this year. Rapinoe launched a new podcast, Why Are You Like This?, last month.
Marta, on the other hand, is still an active player, playing for the Orlando Pride of the NWSL. If she opts not to participate in next summer’s tournament, or is not selected by Brazil, her participation in Netflix’s coverage would be akin to Fox employing Zlatan Ibrahimović this past summer.
Per Crafton, Netflix plans to assemble its World Cup broadcast team in Mexico next spring, where talent will bond with each other and be briefed by company executives. The streamer has also communicated to potential talent that “it intends to fly and accommodate commentators and analysts in a highly professional way, while also providing security chaperones where required in Brazil.”
The news comes shortly after Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said the company will hold conversations with FIFA about potentially acquiring rights to the men’s World Cup in 2030 and 2034. Bajaria said Netflix’s partnership with FIFA is “great.”