The French Handball Federation (FFHB) and BeIN Sports, the international pay-TV broadcaster, have secured rights to European handball’s top club competitions in France to avoid a blackout in the country for the 2026-27 season.
The FFHB will provide coverage of the men’s and women’s EHF Champions League and EHF European League competitions on its HandballTV OTT platform, focusing on all matches involving French clubs, as well as selected top international fixtures.
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The agreement includes the rights for television, OTT, streaming, and digital platforms.
Alongside the FFHB's coverage, EHFTV, the EHF's own streaming service, will show additional matches.
BeIN will broadcast two men's Champions League games each matchday (the second of which will be co-broadcast with HandballTV) and one women's Champions League match per matchday.
David Szlezak, managing director of EHF Marketing, said: “France is one of the key markets for European club handball, with its clubs playing an important role in the EHF Champions League and the EHF European League.
“The recent successes of Metz and Dijon underline the strength of French club handball. This agreement with the FFHB creates a strong setup to bring the matches of French clubs, as well as other leading European fixtures, to audiences across France.”
Indeed, Metz Handball begins the 2026-27 campaign as reigning EHF Champions League Women titleholders, having become the first French club to win the competition, while JDA Bourgogne Dijon Handball are the current EHF European League Women champions.
The news comes as a relief to French clubs, who had been frustrated by the radio silence of recent months.
This ends a period of uncertainty as rights were still not awarded with the start of the new season fast approaching, despite 12 French teams featuring on the continental stage this year.
The women’s Champions League will begin tomorrow (September 5), while the men’s edition will start on Wednesday (September 9). The European League (women's and men's) will begin on September 29.
EHF rights in France were previously held by pan-European pay-TV broadcaster Eurosport.
From the 2026-27 season onwards, EHF Marketing, the commercial arm of the European Handball Federation, is responsible for the international media distribution of its club competitions after the governing body prematurely ended its 10-year contract with sports marketing agency Infront late last year.
During the last bidding process, Eurosport acquired the EHF rights as Infront had bundled them with the alpine skiing rights. This time, the process was drawn out and generated little interest from traditional broadcasters.
As part of its distribution role, EHF Marketing will also act as host broadcaster for matches played in France.
France enters the 2026-27 season with a strong representation across the EHF club competitions.
In the expanded 24-team men’s Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain, HBC Nantes, and Montpellier Handball will represent the French league.
Philippe Bana, president of the French Handball Federation, added: “With the support of the National Handball League (LNH), we stepped up to acquire the rights to European club competitions from EHF Marketing — an unprecedented move by the federation, undertaken for the benefit of the clubs.
“We secured the rights and then worked with the professional leagues to ensure extensive visibility through our broadcasting partner. This agreement is excellent news for the exposure of our clubs competing in European club competitions. The deal allows us to offer fans the majority of the EHF Champions League schedule as well as full coverage of the French clubs' campaigns.”
The FFHB launched HandballTV in partnership with the LNH, which operates French handball’s top two leagues.
A HandballTV subscription is priced at €47 ($55) per year.
The service also broadcasts France’s top-flight Starligue, showing five matches per matchday. The three main matches are shown on BeIN Sports, which agreed a five-year extension of its domestic rights deal with the league last December.
HandballTV additionally airs the women’s top-tier Ligue Butagaz Energie, as well as the second-tier men’s and women’s leagues, the Coupe de France knockout competition, and some matches of the French national teams.
Earlier this week, EHF Marketing agreed a licensing deal with Dyn Media, the German sports streaming platform, to distribute content from all EHF club competitions to media partners worldwide.
Through that agreement, the Dyn Media Content Desk platform will distribute the EHF Champions League, the EHF European League, and the EHF European Cup across both the men’s and women’s competitions.
