Amazon and Disney in contention for Champions League broadcast rights

Elite European soccer could be about to get a huge cash injection, with streaming giants expected to join the bidding for the next round of UEFA broadcast rights.

The new offer from UEFA could see a streaming service - such as Amazon, Disney, Netflix - given one first-pick game per round. The Times reports that there is expected to be a limit on the number of times that any one team can be picked. In the current deal Amazon already has the rights to one game per round in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.

The current broadcast deal for Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League is a three-year agreement, which began in 2024. That means that the new rights deal will begin in 2027, and with an expanded format now in place there are big expectations for the figures on offer.

The BBC reports that the new deal should bring in at least €5 billion ($5.8 billion) per season. This time around the deal will span six years, twice the length of the current terms.

Speaking at the European Football Clubs’ general assembly in Rome on Wednesday, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin spoke about the next steps for the governing body: “Together we are building something unique with ambition, to deliver the most engaging football, the most innovative and the most accessible to expand our core revenue streams.

“[We want] to inspire new fans to follow our competitions, to drive engagement with new audiences especially in an ever-changing media and streaming right landscape and to make the most of digital platforms and bring the game closer together for ever.

He added: “This is how we will keep European football at the very top.”

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