The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has extended its significant media rights partnership with leading sports broadcaster ESPN for the 2025-28 cycle. This extension comes after the previous deal between the two parties, announced in September 2021, concluded at the end of last year.
ESPN will continue as the exclusive media partner for a variety of top-tier AFC competitions in Central and South America. The agreement also includes non-exclusive partnership rights in the Caribbean region.
This renewed alliance covers properties such as 2027 Asian Cup national teams tournament, Champions League Elite club competition and Champions League Two club competition. These events will be covered across ESPN’s range of platforms, including Disney+, their popular streaming service.
Previous dealings and partnerships
The previous deal between AFC and ESPN was brokered by Football Marketing Asia agency. However, all current commercial agreements are now handled by Asia Football Group.
Michael Walters, vice president for programming and acquisitions at ESPN, said:
"At ESPN, our main goal is to serve the sports fan with a vast array of sportive events and our experts’ analysis. We're thrilled to renew this agreement, so that audiences in Latin America, Central America, and the Caribbean can continue to enjoy the AFC’s competitions in real time through ESPN’s linear channels and Disney+.”
In addition to this extension with AFC, ESPN recently announced an extension of its tie-up in the Caribbean with English men's soccer's top-tier Premier League for the same cycle (2025-28). These recent activities further solidify ESPN's position as one of foremost sports broadcasters across Americas.
New partnerships on Horizon
Last week marked another significant development for AFC when they disclosed a new partnership with Chinese financial technology firm Du Xiaoman Technology. As per this agreement, Du Xiaoman Technology has been named a global supporter of the AFC Asian qualifiers for FIFA World Cup 2026.
This extended collaboration between AFC and ESPN is expected to bring more visibility to Asian football across Latin America and Caribbean regions through till 2028. It not only strengthens both organizations' presence but also provides sports fans access to high-quality coverage on multiple platforms.
