Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale scored one of the greatest goals ever in the Champions League final this year.
Optus has secured Australian broadcast and transmission rights to Europe’s premier football competition, the UEFA Champions League, for the next three years.
The rights were previously held in Australia by BeIN Sport, with some games simulcast on SBS. BeIN Sports allowed Foxtel subscribers to watch the games.
Optus Sports will now show all games of the UEFA Champions League, the Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup, with some matches to continue being broadcast on SBS.
Fans will need to sign up to the Optus Sports app to watch matches. This may make some fans apprehensive after a disastrous World Cup where Optus agreed to let SBS show all of the tournament on free to air because of ongoing technical glitches.
However, the Russian nightmare hasn’t dented Optus’ appetite for high quality football.
It now holds the rights to the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League, while BeIN Sports continues to broadcast the other top European leagues in Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and the German Bundesliga.
Optus’ deal with UEFA also includes Euro 2020 – the second biggest global football competition after the World Cup, the UEFA Nations League and European qualifiers for the Euros and World Cup.
Optus also has the rights to the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, where the Australian Matildas are among the tournament favourites.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for Optus as we continue to build upon our strategy of delivering elite international football and exclusive content for customers,” Optus managing director marketing and Product Ben White said.
“Adding these tournaments and elite football matches to Optus Sport provides our customers with more than double the live premium football content compared to this time last year.”
UEFA director of marketing Guy-Laurent Epstein added, “We are excited to partner with Optus in the territory of Australia.
“Optus has proven its dedication to football in recent years, acquiring a considerable portfolio of premium footballing content.
“We look forward to seeing the way in which Optus builds the UEFA club competition brands in the territory and makes the competitions available for fans in Australia.”
Optus Sports football line-up
• Premier League 2018/19-2021/22
• FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019 and other FIFA events
• UEFA Nations League 2018 and 2020
• UEFA Euro 2020
• UEFA Super Cup 2018-2020
• UEFA Champions League 2018/19- 2020/21
• UEFA Nations League Final 2019 and 2021
• UEFA Europa League 2018/19- 2020/21
• European Qualifiers for Euro 2020
• European Qualifiers for 2022 FIFA World Cup
• Selected international friendlies played in Europe by UEFA teams 2018-2022
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