Media giant Disney is set to enter the women’s soccer market in Europe, having won a media rights tender for the elite UEFA Women’s Champions League competition.
The US entertainment heavyweight’s Disney+ OTT streaming service is set to showcase all 75 UWCL fixtures each season on a five-year deal, beginning with the upcoming 2025-26 campaign and running through the 2029-30 season.
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These games, as well as shoulder content surrounding the fixtures, will be produced by the Disney-owned multi-platform sports media business ESPN, with commentary to be offered in multiple languages.
This deal was struck with UC3, the joint venture set up by the UEFA governing body and the European Club Association.
Speaking on the announcement, UC3 co-managing director Guy-Laurent Epstein commented: "The UEFA Women’s Champions League has seen exceptional growth in recent years, with record-breaking attendance, rising standards, and increasing global interest.
"These new broadcast deals not only reflect this but are important milestones in the continued development of women’s football in Europe, underscoring its growing importance and appeal to fans worldwide. We look forward to working with Disney+ and the Free-To-Air broadcast partners to continue to grow the women’s game in Europe.”
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By GlobalDataTerritories covered by the deal include the UK, which will send a minimum of six participants to the competition in the 2025-26 season (three from England, two from Scotland, and one each from Northern Ireland and Wales.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the umbrella body of free-to-air broadcasters across the continent, will also handle free-to-air distribution of the tournament through a smaller rights package agreed with UC3, one of three that was tendered, which will include broadcasts of the event’s showpiece final, as well as showpiece fixtures featuring teams from EBU members in their respective territories.
Through this package, the EBU will bring one game per matchweek to public-service broadcasters in close to 30 European territories, including Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, and Sweden.
Charlie Marshal, also UC3 co-managing director, added: "UC3 is all about ECA and UEFA's shared ambition for the long-term growth of women's club football. This brand-new agreement is a great example of UC3 delivering on its commitment to create commercial opportunities which, in turn, fuel the growth of the UWCL and the fan bases of the clubs.
"The combination of a truly global brand like Disney with a first-rate free-to-air platform across Europe will propel the competition to new heights, along with the launch of an exciting new UWCL format providing more opportunities for clubs to compete at the highest level and more European club rivalries that fans want to see.”
In previous years, the EBU has sublicensed major UWCL fixtures for its member broadcasters, and in 2025, it will showcase the UEFA Women's Euros national team competition.
For that competition, highlights and shoulder content produced by Eurovision Sport, the EBU’s free-to-air streaming service, will be available to members throughout to supplement their broadcasts while providing an extra access point for fans, and it is likely that similar will be made available for the UWCL through this new partnership.
The rights tender, opened in December 2024, was managed by agency Two Circles, which in June 2024 was appointed as the exclusive media sales agency and sponsorship agency for the UWCL during the 2025-2030 cycle.
Disney takes over from global sports OTT service DAZN, which has held the rights since the 2021-22 season.
The UWCL will change formats for the 2025-26 campaign, moving to a league phase with 18 sides, followed by a playoff round, increasing the number of games on offer.
A pan-American tender for the competition’s rights was run simultaneously to the European tender, and with the UWCL 2024-25 season drawing to a close with the final on May 24, it is likely that the winner of that search will also be revealed.
Recently, BeIN Sports, the major international pay-TV broadcaster, extended its exclusive deal covering rights to the UWCL, as well as the trio of men’s UEFA European club soccer competitions, for the Middle East, North Africa (MENA), and several markets in Asia.
The exclusive extension runs for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons, and covers the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen, Iraq, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Timor-Leste, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. In addition, BeIN will cover UEFA club competition action in Indonesia and the Philippines, just not on an exclusive basis.
