UEFA today announced that following a comprehensive bidding and evaluation process by TEAM Marketing, the main TV rights for the UEFA Champions League 2003-2006 have been awarded to VRT in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium and to RTL TVI in the French speaking part.

Both VRT and RTL TVI will broadcast their first choice of matches on Tuesday and Wednesday nights as well as highlights programmes. VRT will also broadcast the UEFA Champions League magazine programme on weekends, which is sold as a separate package.

VRT and RTL TVI are long-term broadcast partners of the UEFA Champions League. Their strong commitment to the competition is reflected in the impressive viewer ratings achieved by both broadcasters.

The bidding process was highly competitive, with bids received from five different broadcasters. The two successful broadcasters clearly made the most impressive bids for the main live packages on each night and the highlights programmes.

At this stage UEFA has decided not to award the rights for the other matches 3 to 16. Several packages of rights including the second choice match of each night (matches 3 & 4) and matches 5-16 across both nights are still available for sale either by UEFA or if unsold by the start of the 2003/2004 season by some of the clubs themselves.

UEFA is also pleased to announce that the television rights for the UEFA Champions League 2003-2006 in Israel will be awarded to JCS.

The deal ensures that all games from the competition will be shown in Israel either on the Sport5 channel or through sublicensing deals to terrestrial networks.

All interested parties in the territory were invited to make proposals and given an equal opportunity to take part in the process. The bid from JCS was by a considerable margin the best proposal.

UEFA Chief Executive, Gerhard Aigner, commented:

‘The announcement of the sale of the UEFA Champions League TV rights in Belgium and Israel confirms the continued presence of a strong television market interest in football and in particular in the UEFA Champions League.

‘I am sure that these new deals will continue to offer the football fans in these two countries the best viewing of the UEFA Champions League action.’

For more details contact:

Uefa Media Services
00 41 22 99 44 55 9