Global soccer's governing body FIFA has not yet managed to sell broadcast rights to the inaugural edition of its women's club competition, the Champions Cup, which will be held as a four-team event for the first time in late January and early February, according to reports.
The Guardian publication said FIFA chose not to run a tender process, but instead went after specific potential broadcast partners in several key markets.
There are only four matches scheduled to take place during the first-ever Champions Cup - two semi-finals, a third-place playoff, and then the final - all set to take place between January 28 and February 1 in London, UK.
The Guardian has also cited sources as suggesting the sales process remains ongoing.
In addition, in the UK, neither of the broadcast partners for the domestic Women's Super League competition - the public-service BBC, nor pay-TV heavyweight Sky Sports - has shown any particular interest in the mini-tournament.
The teams involved are Arsenal from the WSL (winners of last season's UEFA Women's Champions League), Gotham FC of North America's NWSL, Chinese side Wuhan Jiangda, and Brazil's Corinthians.
The Champions Cup is the forerunner to a full Women's Club World Cup, which FIFA will launch in 2028 and will take place every four years (the slimmed-down Champions Cup will be held in the other three years of each cycle).
An eleventh-hour deal could still be done, of course, in the same way that FIFA sold worldwide rights to the inaugural men's Club World Cup (held earlier this year in the US) at a late stage, to sports streaming heavyweight DAZN.
Other major streaming platforms, such as Disney+ (which holds UEFA Women's Champions League rights on the continent and in various other markets), are also options.
FIFA has also not yet unveiled the London venue or venues where the four games will take place.
Elsewhere in the world of women's sports broadcast rights deals, the BBC has unveiled that it will air the 'Battle of the Sexes' exhibition tennis clash between Nick Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka, live.
That match, aiming to bring back a concept which has been turned into reality intermittently over the last 50 years, will take place on December 28 at the indoor, hardcourt, Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai.
The event is being organized by the Evolve promoter (which manages both Kyrgios and Sabalenka), and is a best-of-three-sets clash.
In terms of its other tennis coverage, the BBC is the domestic rights-holder for the iconic annual Wimbledon grass grand-slam tournament, with that deal running through the 2027 tournament. Wimbledon is one of the jewels in the crown of the BBC's sports coverage.
