UEFA appoints Whisper as broadcast and digital content partner

Whisper previously delivered digital content around the national team competitions for UEFA.

As part of a multi-year agreement, Whisper will now deliver both digital and broadcast output for UEFA to viewers across the world.

Having been appointed by UEFA earlier this year, the UK-based production company had previously delivered football content around national team competitions. This has now been extended to encompass all European club football, including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and new UEFA European Conference league, as well as the UEFA Nations League and European and World Cup qualifiers.

A central creative hub called the UEFA Broadcast Centre has been installed at Whisper’s HQ in Kew, London. It is managed by operations lead Bethan Evans, whose experience includes managing broadcast operations and production for the All England Lawn Tennis Club (ALTEC).

Overseen by Whisper managing director Mark Cole, former head of football at BBC Match of the Day, and Whisper chief executive officer Sunil Patel, Whisper’s dedicated broadcast production team is led by creative leads Chris Grubb and Richard Horne. They bring 20 years of experience covering football for BBC, ITV, FIFA and UEFA. Chris Wallwork, James Leith and Chris Bridger-Linning lead the editorial content with Kay Satterley as production executive and Katherine Kissane as senior production manager.

The broadcast team has already started delivering stand-out content, including the weekly UEFA Champions League magazine show, the regular UEFA Europe League and UEFA Europe Conference League magazine show, which include expert storytelling and features about the players and coaches and fans in each competition.

The new digital team is embedded within the magazine production team, led by Ian Hodge, who brings valuable experience from his time at DAZN and IMG, working closely with Whisper’s wider digital leads, Joe Bennett and Chris Hurst. The team now produces over 90% of the content for UEFA.TV, including best moments, features, goal and player compilations, plus longer form OTT compilations.

Mark Cole, Whisper managing director, commented: “We have assembled a team of 40-plus with a huge passion for football and a proven track record in storytelling, who have already started delivering a fantastic range of content to help showcase the wealth of great competitions within the UEFA family.

“Outstanding creativity is part of the Whisper DNA, and we are perfectly aligned with UEFA in how to continue to deliver the future of content to huge audiences across the world.”