Al Jazeera has FIFA World Cup rights to 2018, 2022

FIFA said on Wednesday that it had awarded Middle East and North Africa broadcasting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Al Jazeera, extending its existing deal with the Qatari channel.

The rights deal covering television, internet and mobile transmissions in 23 countries or territories was the first to be signed for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, world football's governing body said in a statement.

The value of the deal was not revealed.

FIFA awarded Russia and Qatar respectively the right to host the event less than two months ago.

"FIFA is pleased to announce the extension of its broadcast rights agreement with Al Jazeera Sport for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia and the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar," it said in a statement.

Al Jazeera already held the regional broadcasting rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, committing itself to free television coverage in Brazil.

"FIFA's aim is to make the World Cup as accessible to as many people around the world as possible, and for this we thankfully have an immensely strong partner in Al Jazeera Sport for the Middle East and North Africa," FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke said.

The rights agreement covers Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Palestinian territories.

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