The TV broadcast rights for the next cycle of top-tier women’s soccer in France have been allocated to France Televisions, the M6 Group, and the Canal Plus Group.
Free-to-air France TV and commercial broadcaster M6 will between them cover a wide range of games played by the French women’s national team for the next four seasons until 2027, while Canal Plus has been awarded rights to the top-tier D1 Feminine league until 2029.
The French Football Federation (FFF) launched a media rights tender process for the next cycle of premium women’s action in mid-April.
The national team games are split across tournaments such as the new UEFA Women’s Nations League across the continent, qualifying matches for the 2025 European Championships and the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, as well as all friendly fixtures played during this period.
All prime-time matches in this category will be broadcast on either the France 2, France 3, or W9 channels.
France TV will also cover Les Blues during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as the host nation.
Turning to the D1 Feminine rights, this represents a retention by Canal Plus. The pay-TV heavyweight will cover the two premium games each week, both at 9PM, one on Friday evening and one on Sunday evening.
The broadcaster will also provide live coverage for the four end-of-season play-off fixtures that will be introduced into the league’s formatting from 2023-24 - two semi-finals, a third-place playoff, and then the league final.
The other games each week will be broadcast by Dailymotion, run separately by the Canal Plus owning group, French media giant Vivendi.
This cycle runs for six seasons, covering 2023-24 to 2028-29.
The last time French women’s soccer rights were awarded was November 2017, for the 2018 to 2023 cycle.
The D1 Feminine currently contains 12 clubs and is considered one of the top women’s soccer leagues worldwide. In 2021-22, Olympique Lyonnais won the UEFA Women’s Champions League pan-European competition.
For international women’s soccer, meanwhile, no French broadcaster is yet in place for the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Australia and New Zealand between July 20 and August 20 this year - those rights are sold by governing body FIFA. France hosted the previous edition of that same event in 2019.
Philippe Diallo, the FFF president, said: “This double announcement is excellent news for the FFF and its ambitious policy of developing high-level women's soccer. The broadcasters have shown great interest and a real desire to participate in promoting the discipline, by broadcasting the matches but also by increasing editorial coverage.
“Canal Plus confirms its commitment to D1 Feminine, thus validating the quality of our championship. The France Televisions and M6 collaboration, meanwhile, will offer unprecedented exposure to our national team who will benefit from the combined power of two major audiovisual groups.”
Thomas Senecal, sports director at Canal Plus, added: “We are really very happy to renew the partnership with the D1 Feminine. Canal Plus is determined to continue the work begun five years ago. With the FFF and the clubs, we are doing everything we can to grow this championship, which will benefit from unprecedented exposure with now two prime-time shows on Canal Plus Foot and the other matches on Dailymotion.”
The FFF voted in Diallo as full-time president over the weekend, as he secured over 90% of the vote at the FFF’s general assembly in Paris. He will serve until the end of 2024.
The previous permanent president, Noel Le Graet, stepped down in January.
In early May, meanwhile, the FFF extended its commercial deal with the international fast-food chain KFC.
