PUTRAJAYA, June 12 ― The first World Cup 2018 match will be shown live in Malaysia on Thursday night, so get ready Malaysians!
It will be free to watch on channel TV2 with an expected transmission time of 9.30pm to 1.30am, with kickoff at 11pm for the football match between World Cup 2018 host Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Since it is the Hari Raya celebrations, Malaysians will be able to enjoy watching the football matches for free together with their families without worrying about staying up late.
If you missed the first match, you can watch it on repeat on June 15 (Friday) via TV2 (8am-10am) and via TV1 (3pm-5pm).
And over the long Raya weekend, you can watch on July 15 (Friday) the Egypt v Uruguay match live on TV2 (7pm-10.30pm) with a kickoff time of 8pm.
For Saturday (July 16), you will get to catch the live broadcast of the Portugal v Spain match via TV1 from 1am to 4.30am, with kickoff time at 2am.
Also on Saturday, you will also get to watch the France v Australia match via TV2 from 5pm to 8.30pm, with kickoff time at 6pm.
On Sunday (July 17), there will be three matches shown, including the delayed match of Peru v Denmark from 12.30am to 3.30am via TV2 with kickoff time at midnight.
The two matches of Croatia v Nigeria and Costa Rica v Serbia will both be screened live from 2am to 5.30am via TV1 and from 7pm to 10.30pm via TV2 respectively.
There will be a total of 64 matches, with state broadcaster Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) obtaining the licence to screen 41 of the matches at a cost of RM30 million that has been fully sponsored by platinum sponsor Maxis (RM18 million) and gold sponsor AirAsia (RM12 million).
Of these 41 matches that will be aired on TV1 and TV2, 28 will be shown live and 13 will be on a delayed transmission.
There will be a total of 83 repeat screenings via RTM throughout the month-long World Cup tournament, which is held only once every four years.
Only two of the four quarter-final matches will be shown live both via TV1 ― on July 6 (Friday) from 9pm to 12.30am with a kickoff time of 10pm, and on July 8(Sunday) from 1am to 4.30am with a kickoff time of 2am.
The two remaining quarter-final matches on July 7 (Saturday) will be slightly delayed, with the pre-dawn match having a kickoff time of 2am and to be shown on TV1 from 2.30am to 5.30am, while the late night match with a kickoff time of 10pm will be shown on TV2 from 10.30pm to 1.30am.
But you will definitely get to watch everything live from the World Cup 2018 semi-finals onwards.
The semifinal matches on July 11 (Wednesday) and July 12 (Thursday) will be screened live in Malaysia via TV1 both at 1am to 4.30am, with a kickoff time of 2am.
The July 14 (Saturday) match that will determine who will take the third place will be shown live from 9pm to 12.30am via TV1 with a kickoff time of 10pm.
The final match will be on July 15 (Sunday) with a kickoff time of 11pm, with a live transmission via TV1 from 10pm to 2am.
If you want to relive the final match, you can catch the repeat broadcast on July 16, Monday (TV2, 8am-10am; TV1, 3pm-5pm) and July 17, Tuesday (TV1, 12.30am-2.30am).
The timing is subject to changes.
