World Cup 2022: Wetherspoon’s pubs to show matches for first time ever - but there’s a catch

 The World Cup is finally upon us, but there’s one strict rule if you fancy watching a match in the international tournament down at your local ‘Spoons
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Wetherspoon’s pubs are set to screen World Cup football matches for the first ever - but there’s a catch. Wetherspoon confirmed that the “vast majority” of its 850 pubs would be showing the international tournament, with only a handful of its locations not televising matches due to not having screens.

However, in pubs that will be screening the games, there are strict guidelines from bosses. Football fans will have to watch without commentary, as the matches will be shown without sound and have subtitles enabled. This is to coincide with the existing set up at Wetherspoons where news is played quietly in the background outside of the World Cup season.

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The pub chain said its decision to screen the tournament without sound has been made out of respect for patrons who are not interested in football. Wetherspoon welcomes around two million customers each week and its pubs are known for being free from background sound and music.

Wetherspoon’s pubs do occasionally screen sports games with sound, but the decision falls to the manager of each individual pub. A total of 64 matches will be played over the next four weeks until December 19 when the final will be broadcast at 3pm.

Wetherspoons spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “Wetherspoon will be showing the World Cup matches in its pubs. There will only be a handful of pubs not showing the games as they do not have screens.

“As alway the sound will be switched off for the games as there will be a lot of people who are not interested in watching the game or hearing the commentary. It will be up to the manager’s discretion if they wish to put the sound on.”

England’s first World Cup game will be against Iran at 1pm on Monday (November 21).