DAZN, the global sports streaming platform, has today announced a multi-faceted partnership with media giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in the United States covering soccer’s 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) club competition.
Through a sub-licensing agreement, WBD’s TNT Sports, TBS, and truTV networks will televise 24 of the tournament’s 63 matches across the US.
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The collaboration will see the networks provide live coverage of action from the group stage, knockout stages, and the final.
In addition, DAZN and TNT Sports will offer English-language studio programming plus additional ancillary programming throughout the tournament. TNT Sports’ Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, and B/R Football digital platforms will also produce and share content across their social channels.
WBD and DAZN will additionally collaborate on cross-promotion, marketing, and advertising sales.
DAZN secured exclusive global rights to the CWC – to be held in the US across June and July – last December, for around $1 billion.
The TNT tie-up represents the second sub-licensing deal secured by the OTT giant for the CWC in the US, following an agreement with Spanish language media group TelevisaUnivision to show 18 matches across Univision, UniMás, and TUDN.
Last month, meanwhile, an Egyptian sub-licensing deal for the tournament was agreed with MBC Group, the Saudi-owned FTA broadcaster.
In late February, the Iris Sport Media agency secured distribution rights across sub-Saharan Africa for broadcast coverage of the tournament.
The CWC, which kicks off on June 14 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, features the top 32 clubs in the world, playing 63 matches over 29 days.
The competition will feature two US sides – Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami.
Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO of TNT Sports, said: “Partnering with DAZN to present the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 further bolsters our sports portfolio this summer and brings another world-class event to our TNT Sports portfolio.
“We’re looking forward to this new partnership with DAZN as we collectively deliver this exciting new global soccer club competition in the US this summer.”
Shay Segev, CEO of DAZN Group, added: “With our new partners at Warner Brothers. Discovery, DAZN will enhance and expand production, marketing, and ad sales for the tournament, to maximize engagement and reach and ensure that fans receive the very best viewing experience.”
Before DAZN 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, and a formal complaint and legal action by the players' union FIFPRO was filed around this issue last year.
The revamped CWC will feature a new format in which continental governing bodies, apart from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), receive multiple team slots.
Europe’s UEFA, with 12, will have the most teams. The lineup will include Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, and Red Bull Salzburg.
