Media giant Disney is set to enter the women’s soccer market in Europe, having reportedly won a media rights tender for the elite UEFA Women’s Champions League competition.
Reported by The Guardian, the US entertainment heavyweight’s Disney+ OTT streaming service is set to showcase the tournament on a five-year deal, beginning with the upcoming 2025-26 campaign and running through the 2029-30 season.
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This deal was struck with UC3, the joint venture set up by the UEFA governing body and the European Club Association.
Territories covered by the deal include the UK, which will send a minimum of six participants to the competition in the 2025-26 season (three from England, two from Scotland, and one each from Northern Ireland and Wales.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the umbrella body of free-to-air broadcasters across the continent, will also handle free-to-air distribution of the tournament through a smaller rights package, one of three that was tendered, which will include broadcasts of the event’s showpiece final, as well as showpiece fixtures featuring teams from EBU members in their respective territories.
In previous years the EBU has sublicensed major UWCL fixtures for its member broadcasters, and in 2025, it will showcase the UEFA Women's Euros national team competition.
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By GlobalDataFor that competition, highlights and shoulder content produced by Eurovision Sport, the EBU’s free-to-air streaming service, will be available to members throughout to supplement their broadcasts while providing an extra access point for fans, and it is likely that similar will be made available for the UWCL through this new partnership.
The rights tender, opened in December 2024, was managed by agency Two Circles, which in June 2024 was appointed as the exclusive media sales agency and sponsorship agency for the UWCL during the 2025-2030 cycle.
Disney takes over from global sports OTT service DAZN, which has held the rights since the 2021-22 season.
The UWCL will change formats for the 2025-26 campaign, moving to a league phase with 18 sides, followed by a playoff round, increasing the number of games on offer.
A pan-American tender for the competition’s rights was run simultaneously to the European tender, and with the UWCL 2024-25 season drawing to a close with the final on May 24, it is likely that the winner of that search will also be revealed.
Recently, BeIN Sports, the major international pay-TV broadcaster, extended its exclusive deal covering rights to the UWCL, as well as the trio of men’s UEFA European club soccer competitions, for the Middle East, North Africa (MENA), and several markets in Asia.
The exclusive extension runs for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons, and covers the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen, Iraq, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Timor-Leste, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. In addition, BeIN will cover UEFA club competition action in Indonesia and the Philippines, just not on an exclusive basis.
