The German Football Association (DFB) governing body has secured four major international broadcast partners for the Frauen-Bundesliga, the country’s top-tier women’s soccer league, ahead of the 2023-24 season.
The league, commercially known as the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga through a title sponsorship deal struck in June, starts today (September 15) with Freiburg versus Bayern Munich.
The deals will see at least 88 games, or four out of six matches per week, gain live coverage on all continents, and mark the first time the DFB has marketed its international rights in-house.
The governing body said it was able to significantly increase its revenues ahead of this season’s fixtures.
Among the deals, sports streaming service DAZN has acquired exclusive rights to the league in its key markets of the US, the UK, Italy, Spain, Japan, Canada, and Brazil, as well as non-exclusive rights across other territories in Europe.
DAZN already holds domestic rights to the league in German-speaking countries, which it shares with telecoms company Deutsche Telekom, while Sky Deutschland shows highlights. The league is also shown free-to-air in Germany through the Sport1 channel and public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.
Pay-TV giant Sky Mexico has gained exclusive rights in Mexico, as well as Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, while Nordic streaming service Viaplay has secured exclusive rights in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Poland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
W-Sport, the channel dedicated to women’s sports, has secured rights in several territories in Asia and Oceania, as well as the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa regions.
As part of its deal, W-Sport has also gained non-exclusive rights in various European and South American territories.
Sports data and analytics company Stats Perform, meanwhile, has acquired the exclusive global betting streaming rights to all Frauen-Bundesliga matches.
Holger Blask, DFB managing director of marketing and sales, said: “The Frauen-Bundesliga is one of the strongest and most exciting women's football leagues in the world.
“We are delighted to announce these significant agreements with our partners, who have a strong presence in different regions and will be working with us to promote women's football around the world.
“We firmly believe that these partnerships mark the beginning of an exciting journey that will take the popularity of the Frauen-Bundesliga and women's football in general to a new level.”
