World Cup Thrills Light Up Nigerian Screens As StarTimes Delivers Full Tournament Coverage

The 2026 FIFA World Cup may have kicked off thousands of kilometres away in Mexico City, but Nigerian football fans have been able to follow every major moment live through StarTimes’ comprehensive tournament coverage.

Less than two weeks into the competition, the expanded 48-team World Cup has already produced several landmark moments involving some of football’s biggest stars.

At 39, Lionel Messi has extended his World Cup legacy by taking his tally to 18 goals, becoming the highest-scoring player in the history of the men’s tournament. Kylian Mbappé has meanwhile become France’s all-time leading World Cup scorer and only the third French player to score at three different editions of the tournament.

For Erling Haaland, the tournament has also proved memorable. The Norwegian striker scored twice on his World Cup debut and followed it with another two goals in his second appearance, becoming the first player to score a brace for Norway at the World Cup.

Uniquely on June 22, Messi, Mbappé and Haaland all found the net on the same day, producing one of the standout matchdays of the tournament so far.

The following day, Cristiano Ronaldo added another chapter to his remarkable international career by becoming the first player to score in six different FIFA World Cups.

All of these moments have been broadcast live to Nigerian audiences by StarTimes, which secured rights to all 104 matches of the tournament.

The 2026 edition is the largest World Cup in history, featuring 48 teams and being jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. For Nigerian supporters, whose national team failed to qualify for a second consecutive tournament, the competition has nevertheless continued to attract strong interest.

Coverage runs on ST Sports Life (CH253/243) and ST World Football (CH254/245), with streaming available on the StarTimes ON app. Entry starts at 4,000 naira on the Basic Bouquet. Decoder prices have been cut for the tournament period. A DTH (Dish) decoder with accessories now goes for 20,900 naira, down from 35,000 naira with the offers running through July 31.

Alongside the broadcast, StarTimes is running a 50M naira subscriber campaign. The headline prize is 10M naira cash, drawn live on Final night on July 19 at the Lagos Watch Party. Seven H30 Solar Home Systems and 14 S130b + 32-inch TV bundles make up the rest of the pool. Subscribers enter automatically by activating a decoder, renewing a bouquet, or purchasing a StarTimes Solar bundle.

The expanded format has brought Africa’s largest-ever World Cup contingent to the tournament, with Morocco, Senegal, Egypt and South Africa all in the mix. Nigerian fans have no shortage of teams to back and with the knockout rounds still to come, no shortage of football either.