Italian soccer's top-tier Serie A has completed its rights agreements in the UK and Ireland for the upcoming 2026-27 campaign after renewing with sports streaming service DAZN.
The contract renewal between the pair comes as the 2026-27 Serie A season is set to get underway on Saturday, August 22.
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It also comes with Serie A already having UK deals for the coming season tied up, with both pay-TV TNT Sports and – as of yesterday – the BBC public-service broadcaster.
During 2026-27, seven out of 10 matchday fixtures each round will be available exclusively on DAZN in the UK. This is a slight decrease from the equivalent figure in 2025-26 (the first time DAZN covered Serie A in the UK) of eight games.
DAZN, in terms of its global relationship with Serie A, is also a prominent domestic rights holder through 2028-29, and covers the league in markets including France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well.
In the UK, however, this represents one of the platform's first significant steps into broadcasting top-tier overseas soccer.
Over recent years, a significant number of English players have headed over to play in the Italian top flight, including – just this summer – national team players John Stones and Djed Spence.
They will join the likes of AC Milan pair Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fikayo Tomori, new Como 1907 defender Trevoh Chalobah, and Juventus’ Lloyd Kelly, from England alone. At the time of writing, seven Scots are also contracted to Serie A clubs.
The BBC deal sees that broadcaster commit to one match per gameweek from the 38-round season – 19 games will be broadcast live on the Gaelic-language BBC Alba linear channel, while the other 19 will be streamed with English commentary on the BBC iPlayer streaming service and the BBC Sport digital platform.
Shay Segev, DAZN Group's chief executive, has commented: "This renewal marks our continued investment in premium football content and the best viewing experience for fans. Together with our extensive football portfolio and our long-term partnership with Serie A across multiple markets, it further strengthens DAZN’s position as the global home of sport.”
In terms of recent DAZN activity, during the last 24 hours it has confirmed – alongside Spanish public-service broadcaster RTVE – domestic rights to Spanish women's soccer's top-flight Liga F for the next three seasons.
Serie A, meanwhile, had a three-year deal with Begin, the UAE-based Pakistani OTT streaming service, unveiled earlier this week.
Also included in the agreement are games from the Coppa Italia knockout cup competition, ensuring widespread season-long coverage of domestic Italian soccer.
Domestically, games will be shared between DAZN and pay-TV heavyweight Sky Italia for the next three campaigns.
Elsewhere, DAZN has partnered with the LiveMode TV service in Portugal.
Through that tie-up, LiveMode TV will – via its YouTube channel – show one game per matchday from the English Premier League, and one per gameweek from the pan-European UEFA Champions League (UCL).
DAZN – which holds rights to both competitions in Portugal this coming season – will also still show all the games that LiveMode TV does.
It has been reported that the UCL games to be covered live by LiveMode TV will primarily be those kicking off in the earlier timeslot (5:45 pm) each game week.
DAZN holds Premier League rights in Portugal through 2027-28, airing all 380 games per season, and also covers the majority of UCL games in that market (with an extension through 2030-31 unveiled in late April).
