Eleven Sports, the international sports subscription broadcaster, has today extended its rights deals to show German soccer’s top-tier Bundesliga in Belgium, Luxembourg and Portugal, until 2025.
The extension starts in August, with the beginning of the 2021-22 Bundesliga campaign, and runs for the next four years.
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The deal was concluded with Bundesliga International, a subsidiary of the league.
in addition to the top flight, the deal also covers the second-tier 2.Bundesliga, the annual German Supercup, which this year involves heavyweights Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, and the season-ending relegation playoffs.
Eleven has shown the Bundesliga in Portugal and Belgium since 2018, taking over at that point from Sport TV and a combination of Telenet and BE TV respectively, and retains exclusive rights in both countries.
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The broadcaster will provide coverage in Belgium in both French and Dutch, across both linear and digital platforms, while in Luxembourg it will have non-exclusive rights.
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By GlobalDataIn all three markets, Eleven will offer highlights shows and weekly feature-style programming as part of its Bundesliga coverage.
Players from Portugal and Belgium have played key roles in recent Bundesliga seasons, with RB Leipzig's Portuguese strker Andre Silva the leagues's top scorer in the 2020-21 campaign.
Robert Klein, chief executive of Bundesliga International, said: “Eleven Sports is a trusted partner with the shared ambition to constantly innovate the broadcasting experience for our fans. Extending our agreement in these markets is a great signal of intent to continue building the local Bundesliga following.”
Jorge Pavão de Sousa, managing director of Eleven Sports Portugal, added: “The Bundesliga has enjoyed a double-digit growth in popularity in Portugal over the last rights cycle, as Eleven has championed the league and the great performances of players like André Silva, Raphaël Guerreiro and Gonçalo Paciência.”
Guillaume Collard, managing director and chief rights acquisition officer at Eleven Sports Belgium, said: “Our new deal is testament to the partnership we have built with the Bundesliga over the past few years and we’re looking forward to continuing to work together in the seasons ahead.”
In recent months, Bundesliga International has concluded rights deals across the continent for the next cycle with Network4 in Hungary, Sky Italia in Italy, NENT Group (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland), United Media (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia), and Setanta Sports (Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Belarus).
In Germany itself, rights have been retained by pay-TV's Sky Deutschland, and OTT platform DAZN.
The Bundesliga's other major broadcast partners include the USA's ESPN, to 2026, SuperSport, in sub-Saharan Africa, to 2023, and BeIN Sports, in Australia and New Zealand, also to 2023.
Earlier this week, Eleven Belgium renewed its broadcast rights deal with European soccer’s governing body Uefa for qualifying matches for both the 2024 European Championships and the 2026 World Cup.
The deal, struck between the subscription broadcaster and the CAA Eleven agency on behalf of Uefa, also includes the 2022 and 2024 editions of the Uefa Nations League group stage campaigns, and the 2023 and 2025 Nations League Finals.
