German soccer’s top-flight Bundesliga has taken its multi-platform broadcast strategy to Canada after selling a package of rights to online content creators through a deal with the Creator Sports Network (CSN).
The agreement, struck with the Bundesliga Americas arm, will see the league and CSN work with creators to broadcast live streams of select matches in the market for the remainder of the 2025-26 season.
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Creators including ZwebackHD, Box2Box, and Bugs, will host simultaneous live streams of select matches in Canada. The partnership kicked off with simultaneous streams of the February 21 clash between RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund, with Box2Box broadcasting on YouTube and Bugs on Twitch.
The tie-up will complement the league’s existing broadcast partnerships in the country with streaming platforms DAZN and OneSoccer.
Other upcoming matches include Bayer Leverkusen vs. Bayern Munich on Saturday (March 14), which will be broadcast by Box2Box on YouTube and ZwebackHD on Twitch. The creators will also cross-promote the rest of the league’s slate of matches available on DAZN and OneSoccer.
Bundesliga Americas has partnered with ZwebackHD in the past, including on content for the 2024 NFL Munich game and the 125th anniversary of Bayern in March 2025.
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By GlobalDataRobin Austermann, Bundesliga Americas executive vice president, said: “To win the next generation of fans, the Bundesliga must be versatile, meeting supporters where they are to ensure German football continues to grow internationally.
“Especially for the game’s younger audiences, it’s imperative we look beyond conventional linear or even OTT platforms as exclusive broadcast partners. We’ve already seen huge success working with creators and streamers in other markets such as the UK, Brazil, and Vietnam.
“Partnering with Creator Sports Network to identify top creators unlocks new doors for the Bundesliga as we continue to grow throughout North America.”
The Bundesliga claims to have seen an 83% increase in its fan base in Canada since the 2018-19 season. Much of the Canadian interest in the league is focused on national team captain Alphonso Davies at Bayern.
Barrick Prince, founder of Creator Sports Network, added: “At Creator Sports Network, our mission is to unlock new pathways between rights holders, creators, and fans, and to show what’s possible when live sports are distributed in ways that reflect how audiences actually consume content today.
“Partnering with the Bundesliga is a powerful example of a win-win model where leagues expand reach, creators participate in the live sports ecosystem, and fans gain more authentic, accessible ways to experience the game.”
The Bundesliga’s diverse broadcast model in Canada follows a similar approach adopted in the UK and Brazilian markets.
Since the start of the 2025-26 season, the Bundesliga has shown select Friday night games in the UK on YouTube through prominent soccer content creators such as The Overlap (which features former English Premier League stars Gary Neville, Roy Keane, and Ian Wright) and That’s Football (helmed by prominent fan media personality Mark Goldbridge), as well as public service broadcaster the BBC’s iPlayer OTT service and BBC Sport digital platform.
The YouTube channels are showing 20 matches each across the season.
In December, the Bundesliga also launched its first FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) channel in the UK and Ireland to widen its offering in the territory.
In Brazil, meanwhile, the league’s multi-faceted broadcast network includes CazeTV, the sports streaming channel run by YouTuber Casemiro Miguel, and media heavyweight Globo.
The Bundesliga says its approach has led to it becoming the most-watched European soccer league in the South American country for each of the last three seasons.
DAZN has been a broadcast partner of Bundesliga Americas since 2023, showing Bundesliga and the second-tier 2. Bundesliga matches throughout Canada and extended the partnership in August for another two years through the 2027-28 season.
In November, the DFL added a non-exclusive media rights deal with Canadian Soccer Business (recently rebranded to Canadian Soccer Media and Entertainment), which licensed matches to OneSoccer.
Bundesliga Americas was launched in September 2024 through a long-term strategic partnership between the DFL and Relevent Sports, the global sports and media rights company, to expand the league’s commercial activities in the Americas region.
A key aspect of the tie-up, understood to be for 17 years, will see Relevent market the media rights to the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga matches across the Americas from the start of the 2026-27 season, which will run over several rights cycles. This will be based on a mutually agreed strategy and joint sales approach.
Notably, the league’s rights in the US are up for renewal as its six-year deal with major US sports network ESPN expires at the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
Last month, Bundesliga Americas agreed a new multi-year broadcast deal with US media giant Fox Corp in Mexico and Central America, covering the 2026-27 to 2030-31 seasons.
CSN, meanwhile, became an official media partner of Brazil’s top-flight Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A in the US and Canada in September under a deal that runs through the 2026 season.
