The rights to the three main men's UEFA club competitions for the next four-year cycle have been allocated. This comes after a series of key media rights deals across Europe. Now, European soccer's governing body UEFA has extended its reach into the Americas.
In Brazil, one of the world's leading soccer nations that provides a significant number of players to European teams, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has secured all rights to top-tier UEFA Champions League matches (UCL) for four seasons from 2027-28 through 2030-31.
Disney will cover second-tier Europa League and third-tier Conference League through ESPN sports broadcaster (linear networks) and Disney+ (streaming rights). The current cycle involves WBD sharing UCL rights with SBT via its TNT Sports broadcaster while various networks air other two competitions. It is important to note that Brazil’s broadcasting rights are sold separately from the main South America package due to its prominence in soccer.
Paramount+, ESPN and Disney+ share rights in rest of South America
For rest of South America excluding Brazil, Paramount+ service will broadcast half of all UCL matches for next four seasons while ESPN and Disney+ will air remaining half. In this season alone, ESPN is showcasing all games for a South American audience outside Brazil with regional rights to two lower-tier competitions snapped up by Disney.
Paramount+ and Disney also share UCL broadcasting privileges across Central America including Mexico where these are technically sold outside main regional package. Meanwhile, Europa League and Conference League broadcasting privileges in this market have been acquired by Disney again which will be shared between ESPN and their streaming platform -Disney+.
The 2025-26 UCL season can be viewed in Mexico through a combination of WBD, CalienteTV, and Fox Sports. Telecoms giant America Movil has secured rights to the Europa League and Conference League in Mexico and Central America through the 2026-27 season.
Tender process
UEFA initiated its tender process for rights in several European, Central American, and South American territories in early March with a deadline of April 21 set for submissions. This was followed by a rights auction.
The process marked the largest close ever undertaken for UEFA men's club competitions. It was managed by sports agency Relevent Football Partners and UC3 - a joint venture between UEFA and European Club Association (ECA) that controls marketing, sales, and delivery of commercial rights for club competitions. Deals across all 19 markets totaled €775 million ($910 million), marking a 40% increase on the current four-year cycle. Rights to UEFA competitions were already allocated in 'Big Five' European markets - UK, Spain, Italy, Germany & France last year valued at €2.5 billion which is a 20% uplift from previous deals.
Relevent replaced UEFA’s longstanding sales partner Team Marketing managing these first tender processes late last year. With these new deals coming into effect from next season onwards; UEFA's total commercial revenues are expected to reach around €5 billion for the 2027-28 season.
