FIFA World Cup 2022 soccer fans will need Fox to get their fill from Qatar as both the USMNT and Canada took on the likes of England and Belgium for a chance to lift the famous trophy. All 64 games are available on cable but you can also tune in – and without the long contract – with a cable cutting service. If that's what you need, then look no further than the cheapest and quite possibly the best cable-free way of watching FIFA World Cup 2022, Sling TV.
Sling TV is a great value service which offers live TV streaming and customizable channel packages, and new subscribers even get their first month half price. That means you could watch all 29 days of the World Cup for less than the cost of a takeaway. Away from the States? Worth remembering that you can watch your Sling subscription from abroad with a VPN just like at home.
The World Cup 2022 began on November 20 and we're now down to the knockout stages. After fighting bravely, Canada have left the competition but the USMNT are on a run. How far can they go? Could the USA even lift the World Cup Trophy itself?
What is Sling TV?
Sling TV is an excellent value cord-cutting service that gives members a wide range of live TV channels – including Fox and FS1, the broadcasters of the World Cup games in the US – at a fraction of the cost of cable.
Sling Orange caters to fans of sports and those with young families, with channels including ESPN and the Disney Channel, but Sling Blue delivers a more adult mix of dramas and some sports coverage. More importantly, only Sling Blue offers the FS1 and FOX streams of the World Cup games.
You can add content bundles like Sports, News, and Comedy Extra, depending on your budget, plus thousands of hours of on-demand content to stream at your leisure as well.
The service costs half the price of its competitors, such as FuboTV and Hulu + Live TV, and each plan comes with 50 hours DVR storage – so that means you can record any games you might have missed because they kick off at unsocial hours.
Which Sling package for the World Cup 2022?
Soccer fans need to choose Sling Blue to watch the 2022 World Cup matches. Its channel line-up includes FOX and FS1, both of whom will broadcast the group stage games, while the knockouts and the climactic final match at Lusail Stadium will be shown on FOX only.
However, you might want to check that FOX is definitely available in your region first, given that it’s a local channel only available in certain market areas. You can find out which cities and their surrounding areas currently receive the channel here.
How to start watching the 2022 World Cup on Sling TV
New subscribers need to create a Sling TV account first, which simply means providing an email address and password. They’ll find themselves entitled to 50% off their first month of membership, and so, while there’s no Sling TV free trial, they will get access to all 64 matches of soccer's most famous tournament (and plenty more on top) for just $20 for their first month. And that's a total bargain.
Current subscribers as well as newbies will want to ensure they have the Sling Blue plan, while taking the opportunity to purchase any add-on bundles that look enticing to them (Sports Extra, perhaps?). Plus, you could keep the savings coming if you rope your mates into Sling's Refer a Friend scheme.
A Sling Blue plan will include three concurrent streams and 50 hours of DVR storage (ideal for those on pacific time, where the majority of games air early in the morning). If you want an extra stream, purchase the combined Sling Orange + Sling Blue plan ($27.50 for your first month, $55 after), and you can upgrade your DVR storage to 200 hours for $5 a month more too.
What devices can I use for the World Cup 2022 on Sling TV?
You can watch Sling TV on a range of different gadgets and devices, including smart TVs and games consoles, your smart phone and digital media players like Roku, which means you can stream the World Cup 2022 without any hassle at home or on the go.
Sling TV is app-based, so it can be download to almost any device. This includes but is not limited to: Windows computers, Android and Apple iOS smart phones, Apple and Amazon Fire TVs and LG Smart TVs, and games consoles like the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. You can find a full list of supported devices here.
Other options for cord cutting soccer fans
If for some reason Sling TV isn’t your thing, you can bring soccer home using a number of other streaming services.
Each has the FOX and FS1 channels, which means you’ll have live streams of all World Cup 2022 matches, although you'll end up paying almost double the cost of a Sling TV subscription.
FuboTV is $69.99 per month but boasts more than 100 channels and offers new members a 7-day free trial. There’s no free trial with a Hulu + Live TV package, yet for $69.99 it has a decent channel lineup and throws Disney Plus and ESPN Plus into the mix too.
Alternatively, take a chance on YouTube TV. It’s a little cheaper than FuboTV at $64.99 a month and provides unparalleled unlimited DVR storage. And right now you can give it a whirl absolutely free.
Watch the World Cup 2022 on Sling TV from outside the US
If you find yourself abroad between mid-November and December as the qualifying national teams go head-to-head for the 2022 World Cup, then you might find yourself unable to connect to Sling TV or any other US-based streaming service. That’ll be down to geo-restrictions, as not all countries will have the licensing rights to stream certain types of programming.
There’s likely to be some World Cup coverage available locally from country to country. But if you can’t access it, downloading a VPN will help you watch the same content as you would back home, simply by changing your IP address and tricking your laptop, phone, or other device into thinking it’s in the US. That way you won’t have to miss a single glorious match, no matter where you are in the world.
