Media tech company Irdeto detected 5,088 unique illegal streams redistributing games over the internet during the group stage of the 2018 soccer World Cup. The bookies’ favorites, Brazil won the unwanted moniker of the most pirated team, with more than 582 illegal streams detected for Brazil’s three group stage matches. Brazil was followed by Morocco (561 streams) and Portugal (535 streams).

Tipped by many fans to have their best chance of winning the World Cup in years, and as they look forward to the second-round tie against Colombia, England was the fifth most pirated team with 523 streams. This is despite all games in England being shown on free-to-air channels. England was however again edged out by Belgium, who were fourth (526 streams). The fact that Germany had a World Cup to forget is emphasized by their lack of popularity with pirates, not making the top ten of pirated teams.

As with previous Irdeto piracy data, these figures suggest that a lot more needs to be done to stop the illegal distribution of high profile live sporting events. In the case of the World Cup, social media channels including Facebook, Periscope, YouTube, and Twitch were the main vehicle for illegal streams.

Key social media statistics were:

• 3,773 of the total 5,088 streams were detected on social media channels, reaching an estimated 4,292,874 viewers.
• Portugal were the most illegally viewed team on social media channels with an estimated 826, 660 viewers of their games.
• Portugal were followed closely by Morocco and Brazil.
• The group stage game that attracting the most illegal viewers on social media was Brazil vs. Switzerland with an estimated 613, 715 viewers.

Commenting on the findings, Irdeto senior VP cybersecurity Services Rory O’Connor said, “As one of the biggest sporting events around, the World Cup inevitably attracts a lot of global attention from pirates, as well as legitimate viewers. Content owners, rights holders, and platform owners must continue to work together and enlist technology and proactive services to take down illegal streams in real-time as we progress further through the tournament. Meanwhile, viewers of these streams really must consider the risks they are exposing themselves to by viewing illegal streams, and the potential threat of criminal penalties.”