DAZN, the sports streaming service, has finally secured a local distribution partner for its coverage of Belgian soccer’s Pro League after striking a deal with Telenet, the telecommunications operator and one of the country's main broadcasters.
As a result, from the 2026-27 season onwards, Telenet customers will once again be able to watch all Pro League matches live. The agreement applies for the remainder of DAZN’s current rights period, which runs through the 2029-30 campaign.
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From next season, subscribers to Telenet’s Play Sports channels will be able to access the full DAZN Total package, which also includes Belgium’s second-tier Challenger Pro League and the Women’s Super League.
The package also features other top international competitions from DAZN’s portfolio, including Spain’s LaLiga, the Italian Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, and NBA basketball. Live coverage of matches will be available on television and through the app.
Dieter Nieuwdorp, chief commercial officer at Telenet group, said: “Belgian football belongs in the living room. We are therefore incredibly happy and proud that, together with DAZN, we can make this possible again.
“We strive to offer our customers an excellent experience, so it is great news that from next season onwards, through Play Sports, they will once again be able to access their favourite Belgian club, complemented by the best of European top football from DAZN’s portfolio.”
DAZN recently announced it will cover the Pro League until at least the end of the 2026-27 season despite its attempts to terminate the long-term domestic rights contract less than a year into the deal.
The development follows months of uncertainty over the OTT platform’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 Telenet, Proximus, 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 this season have only been available 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.
Telenet’s coverage will begin this month, when it will offer a selection of the remaining Pro League play-off matches to all Telenet TV customers at no extra cost.
The telco will broadcast two matches from each round of the season-ending champions’ play-offs, which will determine this year’s league winners. In total, this amounts to eight matches.
Telenet’s first live offering will be Saturday’s clash between Club Brugge and Sint-Truiden, followed by the match between Gent and Anderlecht the following day.
Before this season, Telenet had broadcast live Belgian Pro League matches since the 2011–2012 campaign, either through a direct rights agreement with the league or a distribution deal with other rightsholders such as DAZN or Eleven Sports.
DAZN has shown the league in Belgium since 2023 after it launched in the country following its acquisition of Eleven Sports, with the pay-TV broadcaster’s portfolio of sports rights taken over by the streamer.
Eleven acquired Pro League rights for the 2020-21 to 2024-25 period, which DAZN extended in December 2024 for another five seasons.
