Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapan on Sunday said the government has reduced its net expenditure for broadcasting the 2026 FIFA World Cup to almost zero by purchasing the media rights directly from FIFA and recovering most of the cost through sub-licensing.

He said the government purchased the media rights for the 2026 FIFA World Cup directly from FIFA for US$3.85 million. It subsequently recovered most of the expenditure by sub-licensing the rights to four domestic broadcasters.

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"So, the government's actual expenditure has now been reduced to between Tk 4 crore and Tk 5 crore, and we expect to recover the remaining amount through ongoing revenue-sharing negotiations," said the Information Minister at a press conference at the Secretariat.

He said the previous World Cup in 2022 involved transactions worth around Tk 140 crore through intermediaries, whereas the current government eliminated middlemen by negotiating directly with FIFA.

Drawing a comparison with the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Swapan said FIFA had sold the broadcasting rights for US$3.2 million, but the Bangladesh government did not acquire them directly.

Instead, he said, a Singapore-based company initially purchased the rights before Bangladesh's Toma Construction acquired them. Bangladesh Television (BTV) later bought the broadcasting rights from the company for nearly Tk 98 crore.

At the same time, Toma Construction separately sold the rights to two private companies for around Tk 40 crore, resulting in total transactions of nearly Tk 140 crore through intermediaries, the minister said.

He said the 2022 process involved two layers of middlemen, while the current government procured the rights directly from FIFA, eliminating unnecessary costs and opportunities for a lack of transparency.

"This has saved taxpayers' money and protected the state's financial interests," he added.