The governing body for football in Asia, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has inked exclusive digital rights with India’s sports-focused live-streaming platform, FanCode, for the 2025–2028 cycle.
The deal states that FanCode will broadcast every AFC national team and club competition for the 2025–2028 cycle, which includes the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026, the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027, the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2026 and 2028, and the AFC Asian Qualifiers (FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers Final Round). The deal additionally covers three newly announced club competitions: the AFC Champions League Elite, the AFC Champions League Two, and the AFC Women’s Champions League.
Datuk Seri Windsor John, the AFC General Secretary, said, “The passion for the beautiful game in India has grown exponentially in the past decade and the AFC is delighted to enter into this partnership with FanCode as we seek to grow the consumption of Asian football in the world’s most populated country. We thank FanCode for their faith in the AFC’s world-class competitions and we look forward to working closely with them to strengthen our engagement with our ever-expanding fanbase in India as we seek to ensure football remains the most popular sport in the Continent.”
Yannick Colaco, co-founder, FanCode, said, “The five-year partnership with the AFC will allow FanCode to bring the best of men’s and women’s football action from Asia to fans in India. Asian football is on the rise and is now home to some of the biggest stars including Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar. This is in line with our commitment to bring fans access to top class sporting events from across the world and build FanCode as a premium sporting destination.”
While FanCode previously aired a limited number of AFC tournaments on its platform via sublicensing agreements, the new arrangement is expected to improve the fan experience by granting access to all key AFC games over the 2025–2028 cycle.
FanCode will additionally guarantee that some matches are shown live on linear free TV via a sub-license or a sports television channel with the broadest reach.
The agreement was executed and will be maintained by Asia Football Group (AFG), the AFC’s commercial partner.
Patrick Murphy, CEO of AFG, said, “The AFC and AFG are committed to giving fans unrivalled access to the best of Asian football and ensuring we provide world class coverage of all AFC competitions across the world through innovative media partnerships. We are delighted to have FanCode onboard as a partner, and we look forward to working with them to bring the AFC’s competitions to fans in India.”