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How to livestream the FIFA World Cup semifinals for free

Bypass online blockades to watch BBC iPlayer and ITVX for free with a VPN.
 By 
Joseph Green
 on 
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FIFA World Cup logo
Credit: FIFA

SAVE 49%: Watch the FIFA World Cup for free with the help of a streaming-friendly VPN. A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for £84.20 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time.


We don't want to talk about what happened to England in their quarterfinal showdown with France. We're moving on, unlike England...

If you're looking for ways to watch the FIFA World Cup semifinals for free this week, you should seriously consider investing in a VPN. These cybersecurity services can hide your real IP address and connect you to a server in another location, meaning you can livestream the World Cup from anywhere in the world.

When are the semifinals?

Tuesday, Dec. 13

  • Argentina vs Croatia — 7 p.m. GMT / 5 p.m. ET (ITV 1 or ITVX)

Wednesday, Dec. 14

  • France vs Morocco — 7 p.m. GMT / 5 p.m. ET (BBC One or BBC iPlayer)

Can you stream the FIFA World Cup for free?

You can stream every game from this year's World Cup for free on BBC iPlayer and ITVX if you're based in the UK. If you live outside the UK or you are travelling during the World Cup, you can still gain access to these services with the help of a streaming-friendly VPN.

To stream BBC iPlayer and ITVX from anywhere in the world, you simply need to sign up to a high-speed service and then download the app for your preferred operating system. You can then hide your real IP address and connect to a secure server in the UK. This simple process tricks streaming sites into thinking you are based in the UK, meaning you can watch everything online for free.

Of course you will need to pay something up front to subscribe to a leading VPN, but you can recover your investment after the World Cup using the money-back guarantees offered by the majority of services. You can sign up to watch the World Cup from anywhere in the world, and then recover your cash once you've watched the semifinals and final. Yes this is sneaky, but it works.

What is the best VPN for unblocking BBC iPlayer and ITVX?

ExpressVPN is the best service for streaming due to its strong connection speeds, powerful levels of encryption, apps for all operating systems, five multi-logins, and reliable unblocking of pretty much every streaming sites including BBC iPlayer and ITVX.

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for £84.20 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This discounted plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Remember that you can sign up to watch the remaining World Cup games and then recoup your investment using that generous money-back guarantee.

Watch the World Cup for free with the best deal on ExpressVPN.

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Joseph Green
Global Shopping Editor

Joseph Green is the Global Shopping Editor for Mashable. He covers VPNs, headphones, fitness gear, dating sites, streaming, and shopping events like Black Friday and Prime Day.

Joseph is also Executive Editor of Mashable's sister site, AskMen.

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