Sky Deutschland, a leading German pay-TV broadcaster, has extended its coverage rights to the country's premier knockout soccer competition for another four seasons. The free-to-air (FTA) broadcaster ARD has also secured a package for the same timeframe.
The deal between Sky and the German Football Association (DFB), announced last week, allows Sky to continue covering the DFB-Pokal competition from 2026-27 to 2029-30. This includes broadcasting all 63 DFB-Pokal games each season, with exclusive rights to 48 of them. This agreement extends an ongoing partnership between Sky and the DFB that began in 2008. The previous contract covered the period from 2022-26.
In addition to this, public-service network ARD will cover seven or eight games each year throughout this cycle under their agreement with DFB. However, negotiations are still underway for a second package of FTA rights for Pokal matches outlined during the tender process. A total of fifteen games are planned for FTA coverage; these will be divided as evenly as possible between ARD and whichever other FTA partner is chosen.
Reports suggest that direct engagement with broadcasters over this second FTA games package is on cards by DFB. Other options include re-tendering at a later date or restructuring it altogether. Alternatively, they could retain these rights and broadcast seven or eight matches themselves via their platforms.
Women's Cup coverage extended
Separately, Sky has also extended its deal covering Women's DFB Cup for another four seasons which includes live coverage of eleven matches including all fixtures from quarter-finals onwards.
For this competition too there will be an increase in annual live game broadcasts - five per year starting from season 2026-27, thanks to a deal between DFB and SportA agency, representing ARD and ZDF.
The Conference package for the Women's competition has not yet been sold. The DFB may choose to exploit these games and air them itself as all games will be produced for TV coverage.
Additional rights included in Sky-DFB agreement
The new Sky-DFB agreement also includes clips and highlights rights, with an option for Sky to make full re-runs of all games available on free-to-air platforms at 7:00 AM the following morning. Other highlights packages covering the two cup competitions have been assigned to global streaming platform DAZN, Sport1, and RTL.
Both deals apply across all distribution channels in Austria and Switzerland. This year's men's DFB-Pokal concludes on May 24 with a final match between Arminia Bielefeld (of the German third tier) and top division side VfB Stuttgart. The women's final was won by Bayern Munich earlier this month.
In terms of domestic rights for Germany’s top leagues, men’s Bundesliga is predominantly covered live by Sky Deutschland & DAZN while women’s league is covered live by Sport1, Deutsche Telekom (through Magenta Sport), DAZN along with both ARD & ZDF.
