Bundesliga International, the overseas arm of the German top-tier soccer league, has unveiled a range of broadcast tie-ups in sub-Saharan Africa, including a new pay-TV partner in Angola and Mozambique.
Announced today, there are three-year extensions for the top-tier Bundesliga and second-tier 2.Bundesliga with current English-language partners StarTimes and AzamTV, with the duo retaining rights in English as well as a variety of local languages.
StarTimes has been a Bundesliga partner for over a decade, while the previous deal with AzamTV came in 2020.
AzamTV will, through this new agreement, provide coverage across Tanzania, Botswana, Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
In Angola and Mozambique, meanwhile, pay-TV’s ZAP has come in as a new partner, providing access in Portuguese.
As well as the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga, each of this broadcast trio has snapped up rights to the German Supercup annual game, this year to take place on August 17 and to be contested by Bundesliga winners Bayer Leverkusen and second-placed Stuttgart. The post-season relegation playoffs are also included in the overall rights package.
In South Africa, Bundesliga International has extended its rights deal for one key fixture per match day with public-service broadcaster SABC, for another two seasons. That tie-up has been in place since 2020.
Lastly, FTA rights to one fixture per match day - across the whole of sub-Saharan Africa - have been allocated to the Media Business Solutions (MBS) agency, which will in turn sub-license them across that part of the continent. That agency will also work with Bundesliga International to find sponsors for these broadcasts.
All these deals come on top of the Bundesliga's French-language deals in sub-Saharan Africa, which take the form of joint deals with Canal Plus and New World Television. Those agreements came into effect before the start of 2023-24, and run through 2025-26 (New World TV) and 2027-28 (Canal Plus).
In terms of players from sub-Saharan Africa plying their trade at Bundesliga clubs, this number includes Odilon Kossounou and Sebastian Haller from the Ivory Coast, as well as Serhou Guirassy (Guinea) and Victor Boniface (Nigeria).
Peer Naubert, chief marketing officer at Bundesliga International, said: “The Bundesliga has a long and storied history in Africa: one of the early movers when it came to broadcasting European football throughout the continent …
“We have gone from strength to strength and, as a result of our comprehensive distribution and marketing strategy, the Bundesliga is the fastest growing European top league in Africa, and that interest continues to grow.”
In terms of recent Bundesliga media rights deals, early July saw the league announce a return in Poland to Eleven Sports, the international subscription broadcaster, through a four-year deal beginning in 2025-26.
In May, meanwhile, the Infront agency struck a four-year media rights tie-up with Bundesliga International for sales across 10 European markets (not including Poland).
The 2024-25 Bundesliga is set to get underway on August 23, as defending champions Bayer Leverkusen take on Borussia Monchengladbach.
