Africa has never hosted an Olympic event. That changes on Saturday evening, when the Youth Olympic Games open in Senegal and Dakar 2026 becomes “the first Olympic event held on the African continent,” in the words of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The opening ceremony fills Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio, the town that is also home to the Youth Olympic Village. For the next two weeks, teenagers from around the world will compete there, in Dakar itself and in the coastal town of Saly.
The Youth Olympics 2026 run from Saturday, October 31, to Friday, November 13. Around 2,700 athletes, with equal numbers of girls and boys, will compete in 25 sports and more than 150 medal events. For the first time, a team of young refugees takes part.
So where can you watch? In the UK, BBC iPlayer streams the opening ceremony live from 6:30 p.m. GMT. In the US, no TV network had announced coverage as of October 29, 2026, and the ceremony starts at 2:30 p.m. ET. Olympics.com and the Olympics app carry official live streams, and in Canada, CBC/Radio-Canada will provide coverage.
There’s a problem for travelers, though: BBC iPlayer works only in the UK, so a Brit on vacation in Spain or on a work trip to New York gets an error screen instead of the BBC coverage.
Status as of October 29, 2026:
Country | Where to watch | Free? |
|---|---|---|
United States | No TV deal announced; Olympics.com and the Olympics app | Reportedly |
United Kingdom | BBC iPlayer (opening live), BBC Sport highlights | Yes |
Canada | CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca; Olympics.com | Not confirmed |
In the UK, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app show the opening ceremony live from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. GMT on Saturday, October 31. BBC Sport will also cover the closing ceremony live on Friday, November 13, and daily highlights start on Monday, November 2, at 9 a.m. GMT. The BBC hasn’t announced live coverage of the competitions themselves.
In the US, no broadcaster had announced the Games as of October 29, 2026. In Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee says CBC/Radio-Canada will provide coverage on cbcsports.ca, radio-canada.com/sports and the CBC Gem app. It doesn’t say how much of that is live.
Yes. Your options at a glance:
Olympics.com and the Olympics app: live streaming coverage, confirmed by the Canadian Olympic Committee. According to Senegalese and industry reports, the streams are free, in English and French, with no geographic restrictions.
BBC iPlayer: the opening and closing ceremonies live, plus daily highlights, with British commentary.
CBC Gem: Canadian coverage from CBC/Radio-Canada.
SurfsharkFrom $1.78/moMostly, yes. BBC iPlayer is the BBC’s own streaming service and needs no subscription in the UK. Olympics.com and the Olympics app are free, according to Senegalese and industry reports.
Americans have no paid option to compare against, because no US network has announced the Games. Their route is the official stream on Olympics.com.
Canada is less clear. CBC/Radio-Canada will cover Dakar 2026, but the Canadian Olympic Committee doesn’t say whether that coverage costs anything.
The real limit is geography. BBC iPlayer plays only inside the UK, and broadcasters license the Olympics for their own country. Step outside it and the free British coverage stops at the border.
Olympics.com gives you the pictures. A VPN from our table gives you the BBC: British commentary and the iPlayer app you already use. Connect to a UK server, and iPlayer sees a UK connection.
That helps a family on a half-term break in Lanzarote or a British expat in Dubai, who can also put a VPN on the router to cover every TV at home. Canadians abroad can do the same with a Canadian server for CBC Gem.
| VPN Service | Price | BBC iPlayer | Tested | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
SurfsharkBEST | From $1.78/mo | ✓ Works | October 25 | Try it |
 NordVPN | From $2.99/mo | ✓ Works | October 25 | Open |
 ExpressVPN | From $2.79/mo | ✓ Works | October 26 | Open |
 Private Internet Access | From $1.79/mo | ✓ Works | October 25 | Open |
 CyberGhost | From $1.75/mo | ✓ Works | October 26 | Open |
 ProtonVPN | From $3.59/mo | ✓ Works | October 22 | Open |
 IPVanish | From $2.19/mo | ~ Partial | October 22 | Open |
✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works✓ Works~ PartialThe ranking is based on StreamFix data, and our VPN ranking methodology explains how we score providers. Moving abroad for a while? See how to watch UK TV outside the UK and how to watch US streaming services abroad.
Pick a VPN from the table
The table lists VPNs that currently work with BBC iPlayer, according to StreamFix data.
Install the app
On your phone, laptop, or TV; here’s how to set up a VPN on a smart TV.
Connect to a server in your home country
The UK for BBC iPlayer, Canada for CBC Gem.
Open the app and watch
Be ready before the ceremony starts at 6:30 p.m. GMT (2:30 p.m. ET) on Saturday.
SurfsharkFrom $1.78/moThe ceremony starts on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. local time at Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio. It runs about 90 minutes.
London: 6:30 p.m. GMT, live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport until 8 p.m.
New York, Toronto, Montreal: 2:30 p.m. ET
Los Angeles, Vancouver: 11:30 a.m. PT
Dakar: 6:30 p.m., the same as GMT
UK clocks went back on October 25, so London and Dakar share the same time. US and Canadian clocks are still on daylight time on Saturday and fall back early on Sunday, November 1.
The full official schedule is on the organizer’s site, olympics.com. Here is what broadcasters have confirmed for the opening days:
Friday, October 30: France’s public broadcaster starts a day early, with its first live broadcast on france.tv sport featuring baseball5.
Saturday, October 31, daytime: the first competitions. Germany’s ZDF stream lists men’s beach volleyball group games from 1:20 p.m. GMT (9:20 a.m. ET).
Saturday evening: the opening ceremony at 6:30 p.m. GMT.
Sunday, November 1: the first medal events, including the first swimming finals, according to Mexico’s Claro Sports.
Sunday on Czech TV’s ČT sport plus stream: badminton from 9 a.m. GMT, table tennis from 9:30 a.m. GMT, coastal rowing from 10 a.m. GMT, then badminton and table tennis again from 2:30 p.m. GMT.
Sunday on Germany’s ZDF stream: men’s rugby sevens from 10:25 a.m. GMT and men’s beach volleyball from 12:30 p.m. GMT.
These are broadcast start times from Czech and German TV listings, converted to GMT. US clocks fall back early on Sunday, so ET is five hours behind GMT that day: 9 a.m. GMT is 4 a.m. ET, and 2:30 p.m. GMT is 9:30 a.m. ET.
The second week builds toward the closing ceremony on Friday, November 13, which BBC Sport will also show live.
Around 2,700 athletes in 25 sports are heading to Senegal. France brings 69, the second-largest team after the host nation, according to the French Olympic Committee.
Team size by country | Athletes |
|---|---|
France | 69 |
Germany | 50 |
Spain | 44 |
United States | 29 |
Canada | 28 |
Great Britain | 16 |
Source: national Olympic committees (CNOSF, DOSB, COE, USOPC, COC, Team GB), October 29, 2026 | |
Team USA and Team Canada are almost the same size. Great Britain sends a compact squad focused on seven sports.
The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has named 29 athletes across 12 sports, ranging in age from 13 to 18. Its announcement lists the full roster without singling out medal hopes. With no US network on board, fans at home can follow them on Olympics.com and the Olympics app, and our overview of streaming services in the US shows what else is available.
Team GB sends 16 athletes aged 14 to 18 in archery, badminton, boxing, coastal rowing beach sprint, fencing, gymnastics, and sailing. The British Olympic Association highlights Mohammed Belbouab, Europe’s No. 1 ranked cadet foil fencer, and Rajvi Parab, the European U17 badminton champion. Alistair Brownlee is chef de mission.
Canada’s 28 athletes compete in 10 of the 25 sports. Rugby sevens player Adam Burnett from Toronto and wushu athlete Miranda Wei from Calgary carry the flag at the opening ceremony. Judoka Anes Mati arrives as the men’s 66 kg cadet world champion, a title he won in August.
Check the server country. BBC iPlayer needs a UK server, CBC Gem a Canadian one.
Switch servers. Still blocked? Pick another server in the same country.
Clear the cache. Delete cookies or open a private window, then reload.
Sign in again. Log out of your BBC account and back in while the VPN is connected. More detail is in our guide on how to watch BBC iPlayer abroad.
Test on Friday evening. Open iPlayer on October 30, a day before the ceremony.
Abroad on October 31? Set up your VPN on Friday so the BBC coverage is ready when the athletes walk into Abdoulaye Wade Stadium. Currently first in our BBC iPlayer table:
Our best VPN comparison lines up the main providers, and if you’ve never used a VPN, start with what a VPN for streaming does. Browse all streaming services in the UK or in Canada. More free sports this season: the Track Cycling World Championships and the European Table Tennis Championships.
BBC iPlayerOnly in the United Kingdom1 of 194tracked countriesIn the UK, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport show the opening ceremony live on Saturday, October 31, at 6:30 p.m. GMT, plus daily highlights from November 2. Olympics.com and the Olympics app carry live streams worldwide. In Canada, CBC/Radio-Canada covers the Games on CBC Gem and cbcsports.ca. No US network had announced coverage as of October 29, 2026.
Install a VPN from the table in this guide, which ranks providers based on StreamFix data, and connect to a server in your home country: the UK for BBC iPlayer, Canada for CBC Gem. Then open the app as usual and watch with your home commentary.
Saturday, October 31, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. GMT, which is also local time in Dakar. That’s 2:30 p.m. ET and 11:30 a.m. PT. The ceremony at Abdoulaye Wade Stadium in Diamniadio runs about 90 minutes.
Yes, in several ways. BBC iPlayer needs no subscription in the UK, and Senegalese and industry reports say the Olympics.com streams are free, in English and French, with no geographic restrictions. Whether CBC’s coverage is free hasn’t been confirmed.
There are 25: athletics, archery, badminton, baseball5, 3×3 basketball, beach handball, beach volleyball, beach wrestling, boxing, breaking, coastal rowing, equestrian jumping, fencing, futsal, artistic gymnastics, judo, road cycling, rugby sevens, sailing, street skateboarding, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, and wushu.
Yes. Team GB sends 16 athletes aged 14 to 18 in seven sports, including fencer Mohammed Belbouab and European U17 badminton champion Rajvi Parab. Team USA has 29 athletes in 12 sports, and Canada 28 in 10.
Not yet. No US broadcaster had announced coverage as of October 29, 2026. American viewers can follow the live streams on Olympics.com and in the Olympics app; the opening ceremony starts at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 31.
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