MLS is launching four original content series ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup that will live on a variety of platforms, including Amazon’s Prime Video, Apple TV and Fox-owned Tubi. The series, which range from short-form content to 15-minute-long features, are part of a broader content plan that will include 40 features and generate more than 400 pieces of content across streaming, digital and social platforms.
The strategy is aimed at connecting the league to the world’s most-viewed sporting event by highlighting the more than 40 MLS players expected to participate. The rollout of content across MLS platforms will be timed around key moments, including roster announcements and high-profile matchups.
“This has been a project we’ve been working on for about 18 months,” MLS EVP/Media Seth Bacon said. “We obviously know the massive opportunity the World Cup is going to create for us. We have so many tailwinds right now and so many examples of positive momentum, and the World Cup is going to amplify that.”
The first of the four series, “Cup Dreams,” debuts Thursday on Amazon platforms, including Prime Video, Fire TV and Echo Show devices. The series, which will include roughly 15-minute features from a variety of production studios on individual MLS players expected to participate in the World Cup, will be exclusive to Amazon for about a month, after which MLS and its partners will have more flexibility to distribute the show across their platforms. Players featured will include Inter Miami F Lionel Messi (Argentina), LAFC F Son Heung-Min (South Korea), Minnesota United MF James Rodríguez (Colombia) and Revolution GK Matt Turner (U.S.).
The other three series -- “Cup Reflections,” “National Anthems” and “Breakaway” -- will be distributed across a mix of Amazon platforms, Apple TV, Tubi, other Fox platforms and MLS-owned channels. “National Anthems,” a series by Goodform Productions that profiles national teams through the perspectives of MLS players and supporters, and “Breakaway,” a behind-the-scenes series leading up to the tournament from Starting Eleven, feature roughly 10-minute episodes. “Cup Reflections,” produced by Football Co., includes short-form features of MLS players unboxing and reacting to mementos from previous World Cups.
MLS has also licensed footage for more than a dozen soccer documentary projects that will premiere across a range of domestic and international platforms, including HBO’s “U.S. Against the World,“ as well as projects carried by Telemundo, Roku, the BBC (U.K.) and ZDF (Germany).
“The amount of discussion we’re having right now about access to our content, to our footage, access to our buildings, access to our players, to our executives, is the highest it’s ever been,” Bacon said.
