Women’s Champions League group stage delivers record viewing figures

Sports streaming platform DAZN confirmed that more than 20 million viewers tuned into its free-to-air (FTA) coverage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) group stages this season.

The figures were confirmed with the competition now at the quarter-final stage with eight sides with their sights firmly set on lifting the trophy in Eindhoven in early June.

DAZN and UEFA sealed a joint venture to showcase the competition in 2021 with the broadcaster agreeing to show all matches free-to-air on its dedicated UCL YouTube channel for the first two years of the venture to increase the competition’s profile.

Andrea Ekbald, vice president of women’s sports at DAZN, said: “As we move into the knockout stages of this elite competition and continue the second year of DAZN’s broadcasting partnership, the audience growth has been impressive, and the figures speak for themselves.

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“The football on display is world-class, which is why we have committed so strongly in our investment of the sport and are dedicated to providing the best possible broadcast output, reach, and delivery. We want to continue to drive as many global audiences as possible and are on a mission to be the home of women’s football.”

Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA’s director of marketing, said: “UEFA is delighted to work together with our global partner DAZN to further grow the women’s game, by giving UWCL high visibility through their FTA channels till the end of the season.

“We are delighted to see that our joint investment to support women’s football is successfully supporting the growth of audience figures ensuring new fans tuning in from around the globe.”

DAZN now set out to increase viewership numbers for the Eindhoven final on 3 June with last season’s fixture posting a record-setting live cumulative viewership of 3.6 million globally.