DAZN will cover Belgian soccer’s Pro League until at least the end of the 2026-27 season despite the sports streaming service’s attempts to terminate the domestic rights contract less than a year into the deal.
Lawyers for the OTT platform told a Brussels court on Tuesday that it has committed to showing the competition in Belgium through next season, with plans extending into mid-2027.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The development follows months of uncertainty over DAZN’s long-term contract with the top-flight Pro League.
Last November, DAZN’s five-year contract with the league came to an extremely premature end, with the deal only taking effect in late July, due to the platform failing to secure at least two other distribution partners for its coverage.
According to the terms of the original deal through which DAZN secured Pro League rights for the 2025-30 cycle, it was required to guarantee wider distribution through two or more other partners, who would be able to bring action from the 16-team Pro League to a wider audience.
However, after months of fruitless negotiations between DAZN and several telecommunications operators in the country (including Proximus, Telenet, and Orange), no agreement was reached, meaning the essential terms of the contract between DAZN and the Pro League were not met.
As a result, matches are currently available only via the DAZN platform.
Following DAZN's announcement that the contract was null and void, the Pro League resorted to legal action. In January, DAZN was ordered to continue covering the league until the end of the 2025-26 season following a legal ruling from the Belgian Arbitration and Mediation Centre (CEPANI).
The streaming giant was also instructed to pay the remaining money due for the rights through to the end of 2026, having not paid these fees between November and January.
As part of the CEPANI ruling, the body also stated that the streaming heavyweight must reopen negotiations over wider coverage with telecoms firms.
Although tensions remain, the latest commitment suggests Belgian top-flight soccer will continue to be broadcast without interruption in the near term.
DAZN renegotiated its media rights agreement with the league for a five-year extension in 2024, renewing the deal to a lower figure of €84.2 million (at that time, $99.7 million) per season – a significant drop from the previous five-year contract, which was worth €103 million annually.
The 2025–26 Pro League season will conclude on May 24.
