BeIN Sports, the international pay-TV giant, has retained domestic rights to the Coupe de France knockout competition after securing an agreement with the French Football Federation (FFF) governing body.
Under a four-year agreement running from 2026-27 to 2029-30, the broadcaster will show all matches of the competition from the round of 32, when teams from the top-tier Ligue 1 enter in early January.
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The agreement comes a month after the FFF went to market with its domestic Coupe de France tender, with BeIN bidding for Lot B, the same as its current contract, which includes 63 matches, 52 of which are exclusive and 10 that are shared with a co-broadcaster, the holder of Lot A.
The FFF is still in negotiations for a buyer of Lot A, which is currently held by public service broadcaster France Télévisions. That package includes 10 matches comprising five round of 32 matches and the first-choice match of each subsequent round, including the final.
Yousef Al-Obaidly, Group chief executive of BeIN, said: “BeIN has always supported French football, and we are proud to support the Federation at this important time.
“Our teams will continue to deliver world-class production, storytelling, and analysis around one of France's most iconic competitions.”
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By GlobalDataThe new agreement builds on BeIN’s previous contract with FFF covering the 2022-23 to 2025-26 campaigns – the first time it had secured rights to the competition in France. It shared rights with France Télévisions, which acquired free-to-air rights for the cycle.
Those rights were valued annually at €22 million (at the time, $25.5 million) before those tie-ups, but are now worth just €12 million per season, of which sum France TV pays €8 million, and BeIN pays €4 million.
A source close to the deal told French news outlet L’Equipe that BeIN’s new agreement is around double what it is paying in its current contract.
The entirety of French soccer has seen its rights value slump in recent years, presenting a serious challenge to the FFF, which has been seeking a way to increase the value of the country's premier cup soccer competition.
Last season's competition was won by heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain.
FFF president Philippe Diallo said: “For the past four years, the beIN group has been much more than a partner of the FFF, and has contributed through its coverage, creativity, and the beautiful stories it tells of our football, to making the Crédit Agricole Coupe de France one of the most popular and emblematic events in French sport.
“By broadcasting all the matches from the round of 32 onwards, beIN will continue to offer exceptional visibility to this monument of French football, bringing the thrill of the Crédit Agricole Coupe de France to life throughout the country.”
Along with France, BeIN holds rights to the Coupe de France for the current 2022-26 cycle across 29 territories as part of a separate deal with the FFF.
Under that deal, the broadcaster shows the competition across the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Canada, and Hong Kong.
The new agreement also comes as BeIN reportedly prepares to lose its Ligue 1 rights, with French media claiming France’s Professional League (LFP) has decided to take over the weekly match currently shown by the pay-TV broadcaster to offer all matches on its Ligue 1+ streaming service from next season.
In securing the match, the LFP is hoping to boost the platform’s growth, having peaked at 1.1 million.
The FFF, meanwhile, secured domestic bank Credit Agricole as the Coupe de France's first-ever title sponsor ahead of the current 2025-26 campaign.
At the time, FFF president Philippe Diallo said the deal was a “major financial step forward” for the competition and would bring in “well over €10 million,” although the exact figure was not disclosed.
