More controversy in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Streaming services blocked in Saudi Arabia, know why

As football fans across the globe remain glued to their television sets due to the FIFA World Cup 2022 being hosted by Qatar, the fans in Saudi Arabia were left in a tizzy after the official streaming platform of the football tournament was seemingly blocked.

The platform streaming the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Saudi Arabia is Tod TV, which is a Qatari broadcaster and had been banned in the country for several years. Tod TV had only been restored in Saudi Arabia in October 2021 and has been banned once again, without any explanation.

BeIN, the owner of Tod TV, said in a statement, “Due to matters beyond our control, we are experiencing an outage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is currently impacting TOD.tv, the official streaming partner of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Additional information will be provided as soon as it is available.”

Tod TV is the official World Cup streaming service in 24 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as per AFP reports. Several subscribers from across the globe said that they have been unable to view the FIFA world cup 2022 since November 20.

During earlier years, the beIN group was banned in Saudi Arabia when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s 37-year-old de facto ruler, announced a regional boycott of Qatar beginning in June 2017, the same month he became first in line to the throne.

This is not the first time that the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar has been marred with controversy. Many are calling for the boycott of the world cup due to the strict rules against the LGBTQ community in the country, and the dress code rule imposed on the female audience.

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