Norwegian public-service broadcasters, NRK and TV2, have secured two packages of rights covering the UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) clubs tournament for the next rights cycle. This deal ensures that between them, these free-to-air networks will cover 13 UWCL games each season through to 2029-30.
Under this agreement, both NRK and TV2 will each broadcast one game per round of the UWCL for five seasons. In total, seven matches from each campaign will be covered by NRK while six will be aired by TV2. The coverage includes games featuring various Norwegian teams set to compete in the tournament as well as quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals.
The 2025-26 season is particularly noteworthy as it sees both Brann and Valarenga from Norway compete in the UWCL. Furthermore, a prestigious fixture is set to take place at Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo.
EBU-UWCL partnership
This deal follows a broader partnership between UWCL and European Broadcasting Union (EBU), announced earlier this year. The EBU-UWCL tie-up entails linear, digital, and radio coverage of the soccer competition across 24 territories including UK, Spain France Germany Netherlands Portugal Sweden among others. In total 26 EBU members are slated to cover UWCL matches - AMPTV (Armenia), ORF (Austria), RTBF/VRT (Belgium), HRT (Croatia), ČT (Czechia), DR (Denmark), and YLE (Finland).
And many more including MTVA(Hungary), RUV(Iceland), RTÉ(Ireland), PBS(Malta), NOS(Netherlands), NRK/TV 2(Norway), RTP(Portugal), RTS(Serbia), STVR(Slovakia), RTVE(Spain), SRG SSR(Switzerland) TRT(Türkiye) and UA:PBC(Ukraine).
Stefan-Eric Wildemann, the head of football, basketball, and digital acquisitions for EBU Sport, emphasized that free-to-air access is a powerful tool for growing women’s game. This deal ensures even more fans can follow the action as the competition enters an exciting new era.
Additional coverage
In addition to linear coverage, Eurovision Sport's over-the-top platform run by EBU will also provide coverage including weekly highlights in selected territories. However, media giant Disney now holds the main body of UWCL rights through 2029-30 with its Disney+ streaming service set to cover all 75 UWCL fixtures each season across Europe.
Espen Olsen Langfeldt, NRK Sports editor, said:
"We have many Norwegian profiles in women's football who play for the biggest clubs in Europe, and we have Norwegian clubs that are also making a name for themselves internationally. With this agreement, all of Norway can follow them for several years, and the icing on the cake will be the final at Ullevaal Stadium next year."
The UWCL European media rights tender was managed by agency Two Circles which was appointed as the exclusive media sales agency and sponsorship agency for the UWCL during the 2025-2030 cycle. The format of UWCL will change from 2025-26 campaign moving to a league phase with 18 sides followed by a playoff round increasing number of games on offer.
