Australian commercial broadcaster Nine Network has retained exclusive domestic rights to show all European soccer’s UEFA club competitions for the 2024-27 cycle.
The three-year renewal will see Nine Network broadcast all 203 top-tier Champions League (UCL) matches per season, as well as all 342 second-tier Europa League and third-tier Europa Conference League matches live on its streaming subscription service Stan Sport.
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All finals of the three competitions will also be simulcast live on Nine Network’s free-to-air 9Network linear channel and 9Now streaming service.
The deal, starting from the 2024-25 season, also includes rights to the UEFA Super Cup, the match that traditionally sees the winner of the UCL and Europa League face off at the start of the season in a neutral venue, taking the total tally of games across all competitions to more than 540.
UEFA began its tender process in Australia for the UCL, Europa League, and Europa Conference League on March 29, with a deadline for offers of April 26.
The renewal builds on the current exclusive rights deal between the two, running from 2021-22 to 2023-24, through which Nine airs all 137 games per season, as well as all 282 Europa League and Europa Conference League matches.
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By GlobalDataThat deal, agreed with UEFA’s agency partner Team Marketing in June 2021, represented Stan’s first foray into soccer after launching in February that year. It replaced telecoms firm Optus which held the rights to all three competitions for the previous 2018-22 cycle.
The increase in UCL matches for the next deal corresponds to the new format of the competition starting next year. The number of participating teams will increase from 32 to 26, with each side in the initial group stages to play eight games, up from six at present.
Stan chief executive Martin Kugeler said: “Stan’s partnership with UEFA has been a key pillar of our sports business, and we are delighted to continue broadcasting the world’s best club football competitions until 2027.
“We have seen very strong audience numbers and extremely positive feedback from fans during our first two seasons. We will continue to deliver our viewers amazing pre- and post-match coverage, as well as an outstanding viewing experience.
“The expanded competition format from the 2024-25 season will deliver our subscribers even more world-class football content with additional match-ups, extra teams, and more live games than ever before.”
The UEFA club competitions are the sole soccer rights held by Nine Network.
As Australia’s ‘Home of Rugby’ it recently renewed its partnership with Rugby Australia, giving it exclusive rights to all major local and international competitions including Super Rugby, Super W, and The Rugby Championship, as well as the 2025 British and Irish Lions Series.
Nine Network also holds rights to all tennis Grand Slam tournaments – the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon Championships, and the US Open – which it airs across its linear channel and Stan.
Fellow commercial broadcaster Network Ten, owned by ViacomCBS, has rights to domestic soccer’s top-tier men’s A-League and women’s W-League in a five-year deal running from the 2021-22 to 2025-26 season. It also landed rights to national team competitions overseen by the Asian Football Confederation running through 2024.
Optus, meanwhile, holds the rights for UEFA national team matches in a deal running through the 2024-26 cycle struck last year, as well as rights to the UEFA 2024 European Championships, the English men’s Premier League and women’s Super League, this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Women’s FA Cup final, the Japanese J.League, and the Copa America.
