A major row has erupted over a TV station that Fifa claims is illegally showing World Cup matches.
The channel, known as BeoutQ, has been described as a "pirate" station and Fifa says that it has not given it the rights to broadcast any of the tournament. But it is continuing to show all 64 matches in Saudi Arabia, despite being warned not to.
The TV station appears to be the result of a major diplomatic fallout between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which has led to the tournament not being officially broadcast in the former country, despite its team having qualified. Matches should have been shown on Doha-based beIN Sports – but after a trade ban between the two countries, fans in Saudi Arabia are not able to watch that channel.
World Cup 2018: Russia vs Saudi Arabia 16 show all World Cup 2018: Russia vs Saudi Arabia 1/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia AFP/Getty Images 2/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia AFP/Getty Images 3/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images 4/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia AFP/Getty Images 5/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia AFP/Getty Images 6/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia AFP/Getty Images 7/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images 8/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia AFP/Getty Images 9/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images 10/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images 11/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images 12/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images 13/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images 14/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images 15/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images 16/16 Russia vs Saudi Arabia Getty Images
Fifa had reportedly been trying to broker a deal so that Saudi fans could watch the tournament – including the opening match, which saw the national team play Russia – but nothing has been signed.
Instead, they are receiving a feed called BeoutQ that seems to re-broadcast that same content, including the World Cup. Fifa and the African football confederation says that rights have not been sold to that channel and that it will take action to stop the videos being broadcast.
"Fifa is aware that a pirate channel named BeoutQ has illegally distributed the opening matches of 2018 FIFA World Cup in the MENA region," the statement read. "Fifa takes infringements of its intellectual property very seriously and is exploring all options to stop the infringement of its rights, including in relation to action against legitimate organisations that are seen to support such illegal activities.
"We refute that BeoutQ has received any rights from FIFA to broadcast any FIFA event."
BeoutQ has launched "a major piracy operation against beIN Media Group", the African football association said. It made clear that it "strongly condemns the practice of the audiovisual piracy of sport events", which it called "a real scourge for our industry".
"The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) reminds that, it holds, on an exclusive basis, all the rights pertaining to its competitions, including all the related matches and any related official events, without any restrictions as to content, time, place and law," its statement read. It said the rights to broadcast the tournament in a range of middle eastern and north African countries had been sold exclusively to beIN.
"CAF is determined to take all necessary against 'beoutQ' if any of CAF matches is pirated."
BeIN media is reported to have lost some 40 per cent of its subscriber base as a result of losing the roughly 900,000 customers it had in Saudi Arabia.
Egypt – which is back in the World Cup this year after a 28 year absence – has also suggested that it could resort to piracy of beIN's feeds to ensure that its country's fans could watch the tournament. A statement from the competition authority said that fans had a "a right" to watch the games, urged Fifa to make them available, and said that fans might be able to view copies of beIN's streams instead.
The United Arab Emirates joined with Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the blockade of Qatar. But its broadcasters appear to have come to a deal with beIN, which is showing the tournament there.
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Riding on Jose Maria Gimenez's late header, Uruguay open their World Cup campaign on a winning note, registering a 1-0 victory over Egypt in Group A match.Sanchez takes a free-kick from the right flank and Gimenez heads into the net. Uruguay 1-0 EgyptCavani would be hugely disappointed with his effort, takes free kick from outside the box and the ball hits goal post.Cavani fires a powerful volley from outside the box but Egypt goalkeeper Shenawy comes up with spectacular save to keep the scoreline 0-0.Egypt had a chance, Elneny attempt's goes over the top of the goal which also gathers the round of applause from Mohammed Salah.Match is heading into the finishing stage. Uruguay look on the front foot while Egypt started lacking pace.Egypt make a counter attack but is finished by foul.Uruguay win a corner off Trezeguet. Cavani tries to turn and get off a shot but denied by Egypt defence.Suarez tries to cross after getting the ball to the left of the box but it's blocked.Kahraba replaces Mohsen in a bid to change Egypt's fortunes in the match.Uruguay make another substitution in quick succession. Rodriguez in place of De Arrascaeta.First substitution for Uruguay. Nandez makes way for Sanchez.Egypt is having great time in the middle and enjoying a lot of possession.Egypt make the first substitution of the match. Sam Morsy replaces injured Tarek Hamed on the field.Uruguay with the early chance in the second half, Suarez on the run this time but ElShenawy comes up with fine save.Suarez had the best chance of a low-intensity first half but dragged a close-range shot into the side-netting as a disappointing Uruguay struggled to live up to their billing as group favourites.Egypt 0-0 UruguayOne minute of injury time added into the first halfEgypt accelerate the pace in the dying minutes of the first half. But their effort into the box fails to open the account.Fives minutes into the half-time with both teams looking to break the deadlock.Suarez had another shot at free kick from 30 yards but hits it directly on the wall.Uruguay has another chance, this time Suarez makes a mess of it as he hits from the far post that gone into the side netting.Cavani misses another chance, Egypt defence does well to deny Uruguay taking the lead.Egypt get the free kick but did not make the most of it to open the scoring. El Said takes the free kick and directs it towards Hegazi but Uruguay defence manage to save it.Cavani get the ball and has the first chance of the match, hitting a low shot from outside the box that was saved by El-Shenawy comfortably.Egypt's Hegazi makes two interceptions in quick succession.Edison Cavani was seen in some pain after being hit by Egypt's Hamed.Uruguay get the possession and dominated the proceedings early in the game.Referee blows the whistle and the match gets underway at Ekaterinburg ArenaFernando Muslera; Guillermo Varela, Jose Gimenez, Diego Godin, Martin Caceres; Nahitan Nandez, Rodrigo Bentancur, Matias Vecino, Giorgian de Arrascaeta; Edinson Cavani, Luis Suarez.Mohamed El-Shenawy; Ahmed Fathy, Ahmed Hegazi, Ali Gabr, Mohamed Shafy; Mohamed Elneny, Tarek Hamed; Amr Warda, Abdallah El Said, Trezeguet; Marwan Mohsen.Uruguay's Edinson Cavani was in great shape for Paris Saint-Germain with 40 goals during the season.* Uruguay have not won their opening game at a World Cup since 1970.* Luis Suarez will be chasing redemption in his first World Cup appearance since being thrown out of the tournament in 2014 for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini.* Salah suffered the injury three weeks ago in Liverpool's Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.* Ahead of their World Cup opener, Egypt suffered a blow as star player Mohamed Salah was not included in starting line-up following his shoulder injury.* Russia put pressure on the rest of the group with a 5-0 win against Saudi Arabia in the opening match on Thursday.* Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Group A match between Egypt and Uruguay at the FIFA World Cup 2018 at Ekaterinburg Arena.
Bola.com, Jakarta - FIFA saat ini sedang menyelidiki mengapa Mesir dan Uruguay bermain di hadapan ribuan bangku kosong di Yekaterinburg Arena, Rusia. Mesir bersua Uruguay pada laga perdana penyisihan Grup A Piala Dunia 2018 , Jumat malam (15/6/2018) WIB.
Ada berderet-deret kursi kosong berwarna oranye di stadium yang baru saja dibangun di kota industri yang terletak dekat Pegunungan Ural itu.
Hanya ada beberapa bagian di sudut stadion yang hampir penuh, yang didominasi fans Mesir atau dihuni suporter Uruguay saja. Anehnya, secara teknis, kursi-kursi di bagian itu disiapkan sebagai lokasi menonton bagi warga tuan rumah. Tiket yang dijual untuk bagian itu, hanya terbatas untuk kalangan warga Rusia.
FIFA menuturkan tiket yang tersedia untuk laga ini hampir terjual habis dan itulah mengapa, mereka menyelidiki ada mengapa banyak penonton yang tak hadir.
"Kami bisa mengonfirmasi, sebanyak 32,278 tiket sudah dialokasikan untuk pertandingan Mesir vs Uruguay di Yekaterinburg, sedangkan kapasitas stadion mencapai 33,061," kata juru bicara FIFA.
"Kenyataannya, penonton riil yang datang tidak merefleksikan jumlah tiket yang terjual, bisa karena beberapa hal, dan itu yang sedang diselidiki FIFA saat ini," lanjut sang jubir.
FIFA telah mengalokasikan sekitar 2,5 juta lembar tiket untuk ajang Piala Dunia 2018 . Pengelola dari pihak tuan rumah mengungkap hampir seluruh tiket itu terjual.
Saksikan cuplikan pertandingan dari Liga Inggris, La Liga, Liga Champions, dan Liga Europa, dengan kualitas HD di sini Uruguay menang dramatis atas Mesir dengan skor 1-0 pada laga kedua grup A Piala Dunia 2018.
Fifa are facing the embarrassing prospect of a string of World Cup matches being played out in front of thousands of empty seats.
As the world governing body launched an investigation into thousands of no-shows at today's game between Egypt and Uruguay, Telegraph Sport can reveal that eight of the tournament’s remaining 12 opening group fixtures have not sold out, including England’s match against Tunisia on Monday. A further seven group games also have tickets remaining.
Fifa are looking into why there were so many empty seats for the Egypt-Uruguay match at the Ekaterinburg Arena, a sight which sparked criticism on social media. Gaps in the crowd were also picked up upon during Morocco’s game against Iran in St Petersburg.
A spokesman said: “We can confirm that 32,278 tickets have been allocated for the match between Egypt and Uruguay in Ekaterinburg.
“The Fifa World Cup stadium capacity is 33,061. The fact that the current attendance doesn’t reflect the amount of allocated tickets can be due to different factors, which Fifa is currently investigating.”
The attendance was recorded as 27,015 - 6,046 down on capacity, meaning there were 5,263 no-shows.
