UEFA strikes deal with Eurosport

UEFA has announced the renewal of a multiyear agreement with Eurosport which will guarantee pan-European promotion and coverage of UEFA’s youth, women’s and futsal competitions. It’s an interesting contrast to the vexed question of pan European football rights elsewhere, especially in the wake of the EU advice that broadcasters cannot stop customers using cheaper foreign satellite TV services to watch Premier League football, for instance.

Also interestingly, the broadcaster has been awarded these media rights on a platform-neutral basis, enabling it to provide multiplatform coverage via television, internet and mobile.

The new deal runs to 2013 and includes the following UEFA competitions:

• The annual editions of the men’s and women’s youth national team UEFA European Championships at Under-19 and U17 levels

• The UEFA Women’s Champions League final and the 2011/13 UEFA European Women’s Championship

• The yearly futsal club competition – UEFA Futsal Cup – and the national team futsal competition – the 2011/12 UEFA European Futsal Championship

Extensive live and delayed coverage of the competitions will be broadcast on the Eurosport and Eurosport 2 channels. Currently, Eurosport is available in 59 countries, 20 languages and reaches more than 123 million households. Eurosport 2 can be watched in over 50 million households spanning 47 countries and 16 languages.

Commenting on the renewal of the deal with Eurosport, Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA Events SA, said: “Football development and promotion are at the heart of UEFA’s core mission. In this respect, we are very happy to renew our partnership with Eurosport. The wide pan-European coverage provided by Eurosport has been a key element for the development and further growth of our youth, women and futsal competitions.”