DAZN snaps up Heineken Champions Cup rugby rights

Live and on-demand streaming service DAZN has landed the rights to show the Heineken Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup in Canada, Germany, Austria, Japan, Switzerland and Italy for the next four seasons.

Starting from 2018-2019, DAZN will show at least 70 European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) matches per season live and on-demand.

For the Heineken Champions Cup, which kicks off this weekend, it will broadcast every round in the pool stage, quarter-final, semi-final and final, as well as, selected pool stage match and all quarter-final, semi-final and final matches of the European Challenge Cup.

Jacopo Tonoli, the chief commercial officer of the DAZN Group, said: “DAZN is thriving as a better and fairer way to watch the best sport, anytime, on any device – and making more premium tournaments such as The Heineken Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup available to watch at an affordable price is at the heart of our vision.”

The 2018/2019 EPCR season begins on 12 October 2018. The European Challenge Cup final is on 10 May 2019. The Heineken Champions Cup final takes place on 11 May 2019.

EPCR director general Vincent Gaillard added, “The Heineken Champions Cup is a premium tournament at the very pinnacle of club rugby across the world, so this partnership with an innovative streaming provider of sport in DAZN is excellent news for fans across these different territories.”

DAZN’s other rugby offerings include the Six Nations, Premiership Rugby, Pro14 and the World Rugby Sevens Series.