Gaora Sports, the Japanese sports broadcaster, has acquired rights to the DFB-Pokal, German soccer’s top knockout competition, for the 2026-27 season.
Through the agreement, all 63 matches next season will be streamed on the Gaora On Demand platform.
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Gaora Sports will also exclusively broadcast key matches on its television channel.
In recent seasons, global OTT platform DAZN has shown the DFB-Pokal in Japan.
The deal sees Gaora Sports reclaim rights to the DFB Pokal after previously showing the competition in the 2012-13 season.
Ahead of the start of the 2026-27 DFB Pokal campaign in August, Gaora On Demand will be streaming 20 matches from the 2025-26 season, focusing on those featuring Japanese players, free of charge for members in July.
Additionally, Gaora Sports has announced that seven matches from last season will be broadcast free of charge on pay-television broadcaster SKY PerfecTV in July.
These matches will be available on SKY PerfecTV! Service and SKY PerfecTV! Premium Service without a Gaora Sports subscription.
Several Japanese national team players play in Germany’s top-flight Bundesliga, including Ritsu Doan (Eintracht Frankfurt), Hiroki Ito (Bayern Munich), and Yuto Suzuki.
Ito was part of the Bayern team that recently won the 2025-26 DFB-Pokal, which beat his former club Stuttgart 3-0 in the final.
Rights to the Bundesliga in Japan are held by DAZN (pay-TV) and sports streaming platform Abema (free-to-air).
