Frank Dunne

The Asian Football Confederation's commercial team met major agencies and selected media companies at Sportel last month to prepare the market for a global tender process.

Sports bodies around the world are grappling with the same problem: making sense of the paradox at the heart of the sports industry in the Middle East and North Africa.

Uefa's six-year deal with beIN for the rights to its men’s national team competitions in Mena is in line with the annualised value of the previous cycle.

France’s Professional Football League is on course to at least double its income from the sale of international rights, with deals in a handful of markets still to be completed.

The Premier League’s ability to secure an uplift in its renewal with beIN for its rights in Mena underlines its importance as a driver of beIN’s subscription-based television business.

WTA Tour broadcast coverage has returned to the Middle East and North Africa following a near three-year blackout with DAZN committing to free streaming until the end of the 2024 season, SportBusiness…

DAZN, one half of WTA Media, has effectively sold WTA Tour rights to itself in the Middle East and North Africa, returning coverage to the region after a hiatus which began in 2022.

Spain’s LaLiga has maintained the value of its media rights in Mena following its renewal with beIN Media Group and a non-exclusive deal in Iraq with streaming service 1001.

The Ligue 1 media rights process began last September with vaulting ambition and ended last month with the league’s media value tumbling. Nevertheless, the league’s senior management have identified many positive facets of the overall commercial performance of LFP Media this year which bode well for the future.

Direct-to-consumer services will soon be an integral part of the international media strategies of Europe’s top five football leagues, with Serie A and the Bundesliga rolling out D2C offerings in multiple markets and the Premier League developing its product.