How To Watch World Cup Qualifiers – All Confederations

I’ve put together articles on how to watch individual World Cup Qualifiers for specific Confederations. Still, I wanted to put together an article that provides a high-level view of which streaming services or channels you will need to watch every World Cup Qualifier all in one place. With that in mind, this article summarizes how to watch Qualifiers for each football (soccer) confederation and which streaming services you need to watch every confederation’s world cup Qualifiers.

Watching World Cup Qualifiers By Confederation

Below is how you can watch the World Cup Qualifies for each of the six major international Football Confederations.

UEFA – The European Qualifiers are currently ongoing and will continue into March of 2022. Most of the matches will be streamed live on ESPN+, with a handful of matches airing on ESPN2 and ESPN3. To watch, you will need a subscription to ESPN+, which costs $9.99 per month, and a streaming service that carries ESPN Networks like Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, FuboTV, DIRECTV STREAM, or YouTube TV. For more details, please see our guide: How To Watch The UEFA European World Cup Qualifiers.

Concacaf – The North American and Caribbean Teams began qualifiers on Sept 2 and will continue into next March. Nearly all matches will stream on Paramount+, so you can watch free with this 7-day free trial. The occasional big match will air on ESPN2 or FS1, but you can use a live TV streaming service like fuboTV (7-day free trial) or Hulu Live TV (free trial) for those channels. For more details, please see our guide: How To Watch The CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers.

CONMEBOL – South American Nations qualifying matches are ongoing and won’t conclude until March 2022. All matches exclusively stream in the US on fuboTV. The best option to watch is through their Latino Quarterly Plus CONMEBOL plan with airs matches in both English and Spanish. For more details, please see our guide: How To Watch The CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers.

AFC – The Asian Football Confederation began are underway and will continue into next March. All matches will stream on Paramount+, so you can watch free with this 7-day free trial.

CAF – The Confederation of African Football begins qualifiers on Sept 4 and will continue into next March. All matches stream on Paramount+, so you can sign up for Paramount+ with this 7-day free trial.

OFC – The Oceania Football Confederation was delayed due to the Pandemic. According to the OFC’s official website, they “will continue to explore its options around how the qualifying process for next year’s men’s FIFA World Cup will look.”

Best Streaming Services to Watch World Cup Qualifiers

Below are the must-have streaming services for soccers fans living in the US.

Paramount+

Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access) streams the following World Cup Qualifiers live:

• Concacaf – Streams the majority of matches. The exceptions are a few matches that air on a prime time Fox network
• AFC – Steams all Asian Football Confederation Matches
• CAF – Streams all Confederation of African matches

You can try Paramount+ with a 7-day free trial so there is no risk. After the trial, the service costs $4.99 per month with ads and $9.99 per month to watch without ads. There isn’t a long-term contract, and you can cancel at any time. Paramount+ is available on  Roku Players, Apple TV, Xbox, Chromecast, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Fire TV Stick. See our review of Paramount+ for more information on this streaming service. You can watch online at the Paramount+ website or by downloading the Paramount+ app to your streaming device.

ESPN+

ESPN+ is a premium subscription costing only $9.99 per month and streams the following World Cup Qualifiers live:

• UEFA – The vast majority of UEFA World Cup Qualifies stream on ESPN+. Roughly 2-3 matches each matchday will not be on ESPN+. Those matches will air on either ESPN2 or ESPN3.

There is no contract so you can cancel any time you like. You also don’t need ESPN to subscribe to ESPN+. Once you subscribe to ESPN+, you can watch through the ESPN app. The ESPN App supports Roku Players and TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast, Apple TV, Android, iPhone, Samsung TVs, Xbox One, and PS4. To add ESPN+ to your ESPN app, follow these instructions:

1. Subscribe to ESPN+
2. Download and Open the ESPN app on your mobile or TV device
3. Click the Settings Gear in the upper right corner
4. Select “Account Information” then “Log Into ESPN Account.” You should receive an activation code.
5. Visit https://espn.com/activate on your phone or laptop and type in the code.
6. Log in with your ESPN+ credentials.
7. The app will confirm that your ESPN+ account is linked and now see an “ESPN+” tab in the ESPN app.
8. You will see the UEFA matches under “Soccer” in the “Featured” tab.

fuboTV

FuboTV is a live TV streaming service that also provides a lot of international soccers. They offer a 7-day free trial and stream the following World Cup Qualifier matches.

• CONMEBOL – Exclusively streams all CONMEBOL matches. The best option to watch is through their Latino Quarterly Plus CONMEBOL plan with airs matches in both English and Spanish.
• Concacaf – Carries ESPN2, FS1, and other Fox networks so you can watch matches airing on FS1 or other Fox Network instead of Paramount+
• UEFA – Carries ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3 so you can watch UEFA qualifiers not streaming on ESPN+

Here are some of fuboTV’s features:

• ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and more depending on the plan you pick
• Over 100 channels are available in  fuboTV’s channel lineup
• You can watch it on three screens at the same time 
• 250 hours of cloud DVR storage
• The FuboTV app is available on major platforms, including Roku, Chromecast, Fire TV, Apple TV, and more.

For more information on FuboTV features, please see our Fubo TV review. There isn’t a contract, and you can cancel at any time.