Polsat, the Polish terrestrial and satellite broadcaster, has acquired rights to European soccer’s UEFA Europa League and Conference League club competitions for the next three seasons.
For the 2024-27 rights cycle, Polsat will provide live coverage of 189 Europa League matches and 153 Conference League games each season on its linear TV channel and streaming service.
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Viaplay, the European sports media heavyweight, held rights to the Europa League and Conference League in the previous 2021-22 to 2023-24 cycle in Poland.
Polsat agreed a deal with Team Marketing, UEFA’s partner agency for media and commercial rights sales across its club competitions after a tender was issued in Poland in January.
A deadline of February 27 was set for bids.
During the last rights cycle, Polsat had shown the UEFA Champions League but pay-TV giant Canal Plus snapped up rights to the premier club competition for the next three-year period in March.
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By GlobalDataPolsat was forced to pivot and make a move for UEFA’s second and third-tier club competitions which the broadcaster’s TV sports director Marian Kmita believes will offer more opportunities to cover Polish teams.
He said: “It is in the Europa League or the Conference League that we have a chance to see Polish teams, which in 31 years have unfortunately only made it to the Champions League three times.
“Our competition will be a chance to see both Polish teams and European giants, such as Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, AS Roma, or FC Porto.”
Legia Warsaw represented Poland in the Conference League last season.
UEFA's club competitions will all operate under a new format from next season. The Europa League and Conference League will increase in size next year, with the match total up from 282 to 342.
All three UEFA competitions will now feature a ‘league stage’ where each team plays eight matches in a total league table of 36 teams, as opposed to the current system of eight groups of four teams playing each other.
Furthermore, two clubs will be allowed to enter each year’s edition based on the historical performance of each country’s teams.
In recent deals, the Megogo streaming service last month retained rights to UEFA’s club competitions for the next three-year cycle in Ukraine.
In June, UEFA also opened the tender process for media rights in New Zealand for the 2024-27 cycle.
