Eleven Sports, the international subscription broadcaster, has reclaimed rights to German soccer’s Bundesliga in Poland from the 2025-26 season under a long-term deal announced today.
Under a four-year agreement, the broadcaster will have exclusive rights to show all 617 games from the top-flight Bundesliga and second-tier Bundesliga 2 in the market through the end of the 2028-29 campaign.
The rights package will additionally include Supercup and relegation play-off games, as well as access to shoulder programming and promotional content across its range of linear, digital, and social media platforms.
Eleven will begin broadcasting the Bundesliga in January 2025, showing selected Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches from the second half of the 2024-25 season on a non-exclusive basis alongside primary rightsholder Viaplay.
From the start of the 2025-26 campaign, Eleven will take over from the embattled Nordic streaming service exclusively.
Viaplay’s deal with Bundesliga International, the league’s global commercial rights division, was originally due to run until 2029 but the media group will relinquish the rights after the upcoming 2024-25 season as it will exit the Polish market next year.
The company has faced severe financial difficulties since mid-2023 and has stopped operating in several markets as a result, including the UK, US, and Canada, to concentrate moving forward on its key territories of the Nordic countries and the Netherlands.
Poland will be Viaplay’s only non-core business until it exits that market in mid-2025.
Eleven previously held Bundesliga rights in Poland under a four-year arrangement between 2017-18 and 2020-21.
As part of the new agreement, Eleven will make several games each matchday available on its linear channel, as well as offering Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 on its own OTT platform.
The Bundesliga and Eleven will also collaborate to “prominently” feature the Bundesliga and its clubs in the Polish market, including potential friendly matches and further on-ground activities.
Peer Naubert, Bundesliga International chief marketing officer, said: “Building on our former collaboration with Eleven Sports underscores our dedication to re-establishing a successful partnership, including that of our passionate fanbase, which extends beyond Germany to reach fans across Europe and around the globe.
“To date, 117 Polish footballers have been signed in the Bundesliga, more than in all other European top leagues combined.
“Interest in the Bundesliga surged in 2023 as well, growing its fanbase in Poland by an additional 10% compared to the previous year. We're thrilled to witness the Bundesliga's continued growth and success in this pivotal market.”
Patryk Mirosławski, chief operating officer of Eleven Sports, added: “We are glad that after a break of several years, these exciting competitions are back on Eleven Sports and we guarantee that, as always, our viewers will receive a well-packaged product.”
Poland is a key market for the Bundesliga with the German league being one of the most popular and viewed European leagues in the country due to the presence of several national team stars over the years, most notably Poland captain Robert Lewandowski.
Polish internationals currently competing in the Bundesliga include Werder Bremen’s Dawid Kownacki, Wolfsburg’s Jakub Kamiński, and Augsburg’s Robert Gumny.
In terms of the most recent Bundesliga media rights deals, in mid-February Setanta renewed in 10 Eurasian markets as well as tying up rights in the three Baltic territories.
The league is currently encountering significant difficulties in terms of selling its next set of domestic media rights, with global sports streaming service DAZN having threatened legal action against the DFL German soccer body late last month.
Essentiallly, the OTT platform, one of the league’s two incumbent domestic rightsholders, (alongside Sky Deutschland), missed out on the main package of rights to the top-flight Bundesliga but has since claimed the DFL acted unlawfully in not accepting its bid in the tender.
As such the tender process for domestic rights - launched in mid-April - was suspended soon after going live.
In May, meanwhile, the Infront agency struck a four-year media rights tie-up with Bundesliga International for sales across 10 European markets.
Eleven's soccer portfolio in Poland also includes Spain's LaLiga through the 2025-26 season and the Spanish Super Cup until 2025.
In 2022, DAZN acquired Eleven's sports media businesses.
Following the purchase, the Eleven Sports brand exists only as a linear channel in Portugal, Benelux, Poland, and Taiwan.
