UEFA, European soccer's governing body, has taken its media rights tender covering the next cycle of its men's club competitions to South Korea.
A tender process officially got underway in the market on June 19, with a deadline for submissions of June 29.
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In effect, this has given interested parties only a week to submit bids for the rights, which cover the four seasons (from 2027-28 onwards) of the elite UEFA Champions League (UCL), second-tier Europa League, and third-tier Conference League. The next four editions of the annual UEFA Super Cup fixture are also included.
The current cycle of the UCL – running between 2024-25 and the conclusion of 2026-27 – is being shown in South Korea by SPOTV, the commercial broadcaster owned by Eclat Media. That deal also covers the Europa and Conference Leagues.
Indeed, Eclat has held these rights, in total, since 2011.
South Korean players who featured prominently in the UCL in 2025-26 include defender Kim Min Jae for German powerhouses Bayern Munich, and forward Lee Kang In, who plays for consecutive UCL winners Paris Saint-Germain.
In terms of active UEFA club competition media rights sales processes, earlier this month, the deadline closed for Spanish-language broadcasters in the US to submit bids.
Currently, Spanish-language Champions League rights in the US – one of the great emerging markets for live soccer broadcasts – are held by global sports streaming platform DAZN, which struck a deal with original rights-holder TelevisaUnivision in mid-2025.
May, meanwhile, saw Hungarian commercial broadcaster RTL extend its deal for the UCL.
This tender is also taking place while major South Korean broadcaster JTBC is going through court receivership.
JTBC, alongside four other subsidiaries and affiliates of the JoongAng Group, has now had its assets frozen by a court in South Korea's capital city of Seoul after failing to make a repayment by the due date on a debt of $13.6 million.
