CazeTV, the Brazilian sports streaming platform run by the LiveMode agency alongside streamer Casimiro Miguel, has snapped up rights to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) through a sublicensing deal with international sports subscription service DAZN.
The deal, unveiled on the streaming platform’s social media accounts yesterday, will see the CazeTV show at least 39 of the 63 matches played live, including those involving Brazilian teams, the semi-finals and final.
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The matches will be aired live on CazeTV’s YouTube channels and on integrated streaming platforms including Samsung TV Plus, Mercado Play, and Amazon Prime Video in the country.
Four Brazilian teams are set to participate in the tournament: Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, and Palmeiras.
As part of the rights deal, CazeTV will also provide extensive coverage of the tournament via its social media platforms, led by dedicated teams in Brazil and the US, who will produce behind-the-scenes content and game highlights.
Fabio Medeiros, head of content at CazeTV, said: “Our audience has been eagerly awaiting this new tournament, so bringing this competition to our network aligns perfectly with CazéTV’s mission to bring the best of sport to fans, using a format and language that deeply connects with our audience.”
The new deal builds on CazeTV growing relationship with world soccer governing body FIFA, which has seen it secure the rights to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, youth tournaments, as well as the Beach Soccer and Futsal World Cups.
It also has rights to the 2025 UEFA Women’s European Championship national teams’ soccer tournament
The sublicensing deal comes on the back of DAZN securing exclusive global rights to the CWC last December, for around $1 billion.
The OTT platform will show all 63 games for free but has also agreed sublicensing deals in key markets in recent weeks to recoup some of its large investment.
So far this year, it has been able to sublicense its rights in Italy and Spain (Multiset), the US (TNT Sports and TelevisaUnivision), and Egypt (MBC Group). Last month, the Iris Sport Media agency secured distribution rights across sub-Saharan Africa.
DAZN chief executive Shay Segev added: “DAZN is looking forward to bringing this tournament to fans in Brazil, connecting them to the sport they love in new and innovative ways.
“Together with our partners, we will deliver a tournament with unprecedented engagement opportunities to ensure fans receive the best experience.”
Before the OTT platform stepped in, FIFA had struggled to secure a broadcast partner, with many traditional media giants unwilling to pick up the rights as the competition has proved extremely controversial with many of soccer’s major stakeholders.
Clubs and players are unhappy about the extra games and workload, with a formal complaint and legal action by the players union FIFPRO filed around this issue last year.
The CWC kicks off on June 14, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. It will feature the top 32 clubs in the world, playing 63 matches over 29 days.
The revamped CWC will feature a new format in which continental governing bodies, apart from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), receive multiple team slots.
South America’s Conmebol has the second most teams in the competition with six. Alongside the four Brazilian teams, two Argentinian teams in River Plate and Boca Juniors will also participate. Europe’s UEFA, meanwhile, have 12 teams competition.
