72 FIFA World Cup 2026™ Group-Stage Matches: More Copyright Violations Than an Entire Six-Month Club Tournament

As the   FIFA World Cup 2026™ wrapped up   its 72 group-stage matches, the copyright monitoring system jointly operated by VTV and Phan Law detected 10,536 infringing URLs, traced back to  1,158 domains that illegally streamed or distributed World Cup-related content. (This figure does not include five social media domains.)

At first glance,  10,536 URLs may not seem  like a significant number. However, it underscores the true magnitude of the problem  when  compared with data from other major tournaments.

Phan Law noted that an top-tier international  club football tournament  monitored by the firm saw around 10,000 infringing URLs  over the course of a six-month season with 130 to 150 matches.

In other words, , in just two weeks of the  72 group-stage matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026™, the number of infringing URLs had already reached the level seen during an entire six-month tournament.

The difference is not only in the numbers. It is also in the speed and intensity of the violations.

While illegal streaming websites   usually increase gradually over the course of a  club competition season, hundreds of new infringing URLs appeared every day from the very first matches   of the FIFA World Cup 2026™. As soon as one website was detected or taken down, another domain quickly popped up in its place. At the same time, new links continued to spread across social media during every match.

Data from the monitoring system show that among the more than 10,500 infringing URLs detected, 9,267 were websites, 1,269 were social media URLs, and 41 were applications illegally distributing FIFA World Cup 2026™ content. By the end of the group stage, 8,522 URLs had been processed, while thousands more were still under review, verification, and legal documentation.

Copyright monitoring and enforcement data for the FIFA World Cup 2026™, updated on the morning of June 28.

llicit  streaming is just the tip of the iceberg of illegal activities

Vo Trung Tin, a lawyer at    Phan Law Vietnam, claimed that viewing  the issue as simply “watching football for free” does not reflect its true nature.

After authorities took strong action against websites such as X**L** TV and exposed those involved in illegal activities, some users argued that they preferred these sites for their casual, entertaining commentary. However, many believe this is only an excuse. On many of these illegal platforms, viewers are constantly exposed to advertisements for football betting promoting slogans such as “the best odds” or “win every match”.

According to Vo Trung Tin, most illegal streaming websites do not exist simply to broadcast football matches. Football attracts viewers, but the real objective is often to generate traffic for other illegal activities, including online gambling, money laundering, collecting user data, and distributing  unlawful content.

Monitored  data also shows that many of these websites have very short lifespans. Once one domain is detected or removed, another nearly identical website quickly appears. Many operators frequently change domain extensions, move to new servers, or maintain multiple backup domains to continue illegal streaming. As a result, the number of infringing URLs  fluctuates from match to match rather than declining after enforcement actions.

According to Phan Law, this is why fighting online copyright infringement has never been the responsibility of copyright holders alone. As long as people keep hunting  for free streaming links, illegal websites will keep   mutating into  new forms.

From an intellectual property perspective, every infringing URL represents far more than a web address. Behind each one is a legal process that includes verification, evidence collection, documentation, and enforcement requests. For live television events such as the FIFA World Cup 2026™,   close cooperation  is required  among rights holders, internet service providers, digital platforms, and law enforcement agencies, as the commercial value of broadcasting rights is concentrated almost entirely during the live matches themselves.

The FIFA World Cup 2026™ still has its knockout rounds ahead. As the tournament progresses,   the monitoring system is expected to detect an increasing number of copyright violations.