World Cup streams: Fifa and Uefa at war with Saudi TV channel for ‘stealing’ live broadcasts

'BeoutQ poses a significant threat to European football,' Uefa said

Uefa has joined Fifa in a major row over a TV station in Saudi Arabia that the football authorities claim is illegally streaming World Cup matches.

The BeoutQ channel has been broadcasting every match of the tournament so far, despite Fifa claiming that it has not given it the rights.

The TV station seems to be the result of a trade ban between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which means football fans in Saudi Arabia are unable to watch games on the Doha-based BeIN Sports channel.

Fifa said last week that it was aware that BeoutQ was illegally distributing the opening matches of the 2018 World Cup.

Uefa now claims that the pirate channel illegally distributed the Champions League and Europa League throughout the 2017/18 season.

“Uefa strongly condemns all unauthorised broadcasting and illegal streaming activity," Uefa said in a statement.

"Uefa considers that illegal piracy of live football, particularly on the scale of that being carried out by BeoutQ poses a significant threat to European football."

Fifa's earlier statement read: "Fifa takes infringement of its intellectual property very seriously and is exploring all options to stop the infringement of its rights, including in relation to action against legitimate organisations that are seen to support such illegal activities."

The response from BeoutQ to Fifa's statement was described as "goading" by a spokesperson for BeIN. It said: "Don't worry – leave us in the driving seat and enjoy the games."

African football federation, Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), also criticised the BeoutQ World Cup streams.

"An entity called BeoutQ has put in place a major piracy operation against beIN Media Group," CAF said.

"In this regard, CAF strongly condemns the practice of the audiovisual piracy of sport events, a real scourge for our industry. CAF is determined to take all necessary against BeoutQ if any of CAF matches is pirated."

The pirate channel has also been accused of stealing World Cup content from American broadcasters NBC Universal.

"We take intellectual property infringement seriously," NBC Universal said, adding that it is working with Fifa to protect its rights.