Russian sports streaming service Okko has secured exclusive rights covering the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) tournament.
Okko has bought the rights from global world streaming service DAZN, which secured global exclusive rights to the FIFA club tournament through a deal announced last December.
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Russian media has reported that Okko (owned by JSC Novye Vozmozhnosti) has bought the entire set of rights from DAZN, given that the latter broadcaster has no physical presence in the country and would, therefore, have had no means of showing the games live.
The inaugural edition of the revamped CWC is set to run between June 14 and July 13 in the US, with 32 teams set to be involved. No Russian sides are involved, with the country's clubs still banned from participating in international competitions as Russia's illegal war in Ukraine continues.
In terms of recent Okko activity, last month saw the sports platform acquire long-term rights to the Tour de France and La Vuelta a España, two of cycling’s iconic grand tour races.
Across soccer, it most prominently covers the top-tier UEFA Champions League pan-European club tournament.
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By GlobalDataFor the CWC, meanwhile, DAZN has been striking multiple carriage and sub-licensing deals in recent weeks and months.
Earlier this month, it finally found a UK partner in free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5, while tie-ups have also been struck in Spain and Italy (Mediaset), Brazil (Globo and Caze TV), the US (TNT Sports and TelevisaUnivision), and Egypt (MBC Group).
The DAZN-FIFA deal was unveiled in advance of Saudi Arabia's Surj Sports Investments announcing last month that it had taken a minority stake in the streaming service, also for $1 billion. That figure is also the total prize and appearance fund available from the event.
