Should I use a VPN to watch the World Cup?

The cult of the individual means that the Golden Ball is almost as big as the World Cup itself these days, and with Lamine Yamal and Erling Haaland now on the scene – and more than capable of eclipsing Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar – this summer’s tournament is bursting at the seams with alphas.

Real ones, however, already know the star of the show.

A VPN (virtual private network) will take your World Cup viewing experience to the next level, especially if you’re planning on spending any time in the US, where every single game is locked securely behind a paywall.

Almost everywhere else, a significant number of games – if not all 104 of them – are free-to-air. Fans based in the UK, Australia and Ireland, for instance, are amongst the luckiest in the world, because they’re getting wall-to-wall free coverage.

Go abroad, however, and that free coverage will be blocked… unless you have a VPN to hand. Here’s our quick guide to watching the World Cup with a VPN.

What is a VPN?

A VPN is a very clever but cheap and easy-to-use tool that can reroute your internet traffic through servers based almost anywhere in the world.

It can be helpful to think of them as internet wormholes.

Use a VPN to connect to a server that’s stationed in the UK and your device will behave as if it’s physically in the UK.

What do VPNs do?

One of the most popular use-cases for VPNs is getting around geo-restrictions.

Geo-restrictions are what broadcasters use to lock TV shows, films and sports coverage to specific countries. They’re the reason your Netflix library looks so different when you go abroad on holiday, and why local platforms – such as BBC iPlayer in the UK and SBS on Demand in Australia – don’t work anywhere else.

If you have a holiday or work trip planned that overlaps with the World Cup, geo-restrictions will prevent you from tapping into your preferred coverage of the tournament.

A VPN will solve this problem. If you’re a Brit spending time abroad, for instance, you won’t be able to access the BBC or ITV’s World Cup coverage. Use a VPN to connect to a UK server, however, and as if by magic you’ll be able to stream the football exactly as you would at home.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

VPNs also encrypt your browsing data, which makes it much more difficult for cybercriminals, advertisers and even governments to track your online activities, and in some cases they’ve ven been known to improve connection speeds.

Which World Cup broadcasters can VPNs unblock?

BBC iPlayer and ITVX in the UK, SBS on Demand in Australia, and RTÉ Player in Ireland, are each providing free World Cup coverage this summer, and in our extensive testing, we’ve had success unblocking all of them.

Which VPNs work for World Cup streaming?

From our extensive tests, we’re confident that each of the best VPNs on the market will help you unblock your go-to World Cup broadcast, but the one we recommend above all is Norton VPN.

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.