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ARD, ZDF and Sky Germany bag broadcasting rights deal for DFB-Pokal

Sky Germany will broadcast all the 63 matches to be played in the competition, and provide in-depth analysis and coverage of the pre and post-match shows.

German public-service broadcasters ARD, ZDF and Sky Germany have won the rights to telecast the men’s domestic club football cup competition known as DFB-Pokal for four seasons from next year onwards. The deal has been finalised till 2025-26.

As part of the deal, Sky Germany will broadcast all the 63 matches to be played in the competition, and provide in-depth analysis and coverage of the pre and post-match shows. In case of multiple games being played simultaneously, the Pay-TV broadcaster will provide for ‘Sky Konferenz’, a platform that telecasts multiple games at the same time and allow the viewers to enjoy all the footballing action.

ARD and ZDF both have been given the free-to-air rights of the cup competition as well. SportA, a joint sports law firm of both the broadcasters will deal with the broadcasting services of the tournament. They will provide viewers with highlight videos and online content related to the matches, all free-to-air. The German Football Federation’s decision to allow the local broadcasters to air matches freely is to help them expand the reach of the competition and generate more revenues. Das Zweite, a TV channel of the ZDF association, based in Mainz is all set to telecast the matches after missing out for a decade.

Dr Holger Blask, CEO of the DFB GmbH, shared his thoughts on the decision to award the local broadcasters TV rights for the cup competition and said: “We are very pleased to continue our successful partnerships with ARD, Sky and Sport1, that we have won back ZDF. Despite tough economic times, we have been able to present a significant increase in revenue that our amateur and professional clubs in the DFB-Pokal will be able to benefit from. We would like to thank our partners for this strong signal and their contribution to ensuring the economic stability of football until the year 2026.”

The DFB has also entered into a partnership with OTT Sports Streaming Service Provider DAZN. As a result, DAZN will have rights to stream highlight videos of the matches on their platform. The Federation had earlier announced a tender for the domestic audiovisual media rights for their esteemed cup competition. Further in DFB’s meeting last week, DAZN was awarded the rights.

Earlier DAZN also won the broadcasting rights for the UEFA Women’s Champions League in a four-year deal, starting from this season onwards. In addition, DAZN also acquired the broadcasting rights for the recently shaped Women Empowerment (WE) League in Japan for eight seasons.

In collaboration with DAZN, the Federation expects an increase of around 20% in revenue per season from the marketing of the DFB-Pokal. Current DFB-Pokal partner Sport1 has secured the rights to share match reports and free-to-air clips the day after each respective game.

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