German soccer’s top-flight Bundesliga has revealed its new broadcast mix for the UK and Ireland going forward, including a blend of free-to-air, pay-TV and pay-per-view distribution across linear television and streaming options
The set of multi-year deals for the new cycle, starting with the 2025-26 season, is led by incumbent broadcaster and pay-TV heavyweight Sky Sports, which retains the exclusive rights to the “top-match” per game week each Saturday (with a 5:30pm UK time kick-off). This will be supplemented by highlights packages and other shoulder content throughout the season.
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Prime Video, the streaming service owned by e-commerce giant Amazon, has also acquired a suite of Bundesliga rights across the cycle in the UK market only, airing every Sunday game on a pay-per-view basis, including both the season-ending relegation play-offs and the season-opening Super Cup to kick off the 2026-27 season.
In addition to Sky and Prime Video, significant free-to-air coverage has also been agreed, with UK public-service broadcaster BBC snapping up some rights. Every Friday night Bundesliga game through the season will be streamed on the BBC iPlayer OTT service and the BBC Sport digital platform.
Free-to-air distribution of these Friday games will be supplemented by significant coverage with prominent soccer content creators on YouTube in a major first. To this end, partnerships have been agreed with YouTube soccer channels The Overlap and That’s Football.
The Overlap channel, which features former soccer stars Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Ian Wright, and Roy Keane, has 1.54 million subscribers and regularly attracts over 1 million viewers to its content.
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By GlobalDataThe That’s Football fan channel, presented by prominent fan media personality Mark Goldbridge, has 1.42 million subscribers and regularly attracts over 250,000 viewers.
These YouTube channels will show 20 matches each free-to-air across the season in a watch-along format.
The shift in media strategy from traditional broadcasting models to include online YouTube channels is part of a Bundesliga plan to attract a new and younger global audience. Given YouTube’s popularity and global reach with younger audiences, the German league is going where soccer fans are and will be excited about the prospects of this new venture.
To complete the unfamiliar strategy, even the Bundesliga’s own YouTube channel will showcase every Friday game from the top-flight and the second-tier 2. Bundesliga, to aid the growth in reach.
Bundesliga International chief executive officer Peer Naubert stated: “This multi-layered strategy allows us to connect with more audiences across the UK and Ireland, giving every supporter the chance to engage with football as it’s meant to be in the way that suits them best.”
In the last media rights cycle, covering the 2021-22 to 2024-25 seasons, Sky Sports secured exclusive live rights in the UK and Ireland for four seasons to the Bundesliga.
Sky, which previously never showed the Bundesliga in the UK and Ireland before, had rights to the premium televised Bundesliga match, at 5.30pm UK time every Saturday until the end of the 2024-25 campaign, and also had rights to clips and highlights footage across digital and social media platforms.
In the previous cycle, covering the 2017-18 to 2020-21 seasons, BT Sport held exclusive rights in the UK and Ireland to the Bundesliga, with its relationship with the league dating back to the launch of the channel in August 2013.
Conclusion
The Bundesliga’s new broadcast strategy for the UK and Ireland represents a forward-thinking approach that embraces a multi-platform distribution model. By combining traditional broadcasting with innovative digital partnerships, the league aims to broaden its appeal and engage a diverse audience. As the 2025–26 season progresses, stakeholders will be keenly observing how these changes impact viewership and fan engagement for the Bundesliga.
