Mumbai: One of the leading sports broadcasters of India, Sony Sports Network, has extended its collaboration with Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the governing body of football in Europe. As part of the deal, the broadcaster has acquired the exclusive media rights for all the UEFA National Team competitions scheduled between 2022-2028 and will showcase the UEFA EURO 2024 & 2028, along with its European Qualifiers and Friendly Matches. The UEFA tournaments will be available exclusively on both linear television in the Indian subcontinent, including India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka, as well as live-streamed on their on-demand OTT platform SonyLIV.
Sony Sports Network will live telecast UEFA EURO 2024, one of the biggest international football tournaments featuring all the top national teams from Europe. The much-anticipated marquee tournament starts on 14th June 2024 and will be hosted in Germany, with the Final scheduled on 14th July in Berlin’s Olympiastadion. To qualify for UEFA EURO 2024, the teams must go through the European Qualifiers which will take place from March 2023 until March 2024 with the Play-Offs. The qualifiers will be played between 53 teams across ten groups in the round-robin format and will also be live telecast on Sony Sports Network.
Sony Sports Network will also broadcast all the matches of the UEFA Nations League. The final act of the competition, the UEFA Nations League Finals 2023 will go underway from 14th June 2023 between Netherlands, Croatia, Spain, and Italy.
As part of the six-year deal, the broadcaster will showcase over 1300 football matches across its channels. The network will televise the 2024 & 2028 European Qualifiers and the upcoming two editions of the UEFA EUROs. Additionally, football fans will witness all the games of the UEFA Nations League 2024 & 2026, as well as the UEFA Nations League Finals in 2025 & 2027. In addition to this, Sony Sports Network continues to be the official broadcaster for the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League, Bundesliga, Emirates FA Cup and more.
Sony Pictures Networks India chief revenue officer - distribution & international business and head - sports business Rajesh Kaul said, “We're thrilled to announce that Sony Sports Network has extended its partnership with UEFA and secured the rights to the UEFA EURO 2024 and 2028 editions, further cementing our commitment to delivering premium quality football on a massive scale. With the acquisition of exclusive television and digital rights in the Indian sub-continent, we're excited to bring the tournament to viewers in multiple languages, ensuring that fans can experience the thrill of one of the biggest events in football. UEFA commands some of the most premium football properties, and this association expands our football portfolio with an additional 1300 football matches making us the premier destination for European football in India.
There is a high attraction for the marquee UEFA EURO tournament, featuring the top European footballing nations, both with advertisers and viewers in India. And this was evident in the successful broadcast of UEFA EURO 2020 on Sony Sports Network in which the viewership impressions were more than triple of UEFA EURO 2016 along with over 65 brands that associated with our network for the prestigious tournament across our linear and digital platforms.”
UEFA director of marketing Guy-Laurent Epstein said, “We are very pleased to continue our partnership with Sony Sports Network as the home of UEFA National Team Football in the Indian subcontinent until 2028. Fans in the region will be offered an extensive and excellent coverage of UEFA’s European National Team Football portfolio which includes the European Qualifiers, UEFA Nations League, UEFA EURO 2024, and UEFA EURO 2028, with all matches broadcast on linear television and the digital platform SonyLIV.”
