The International Handball Federation (IHF) has announced that Qatari pay-television broadcaster Al Jazeera has become its global media rights partner for the 2015 and 2017 Men’s and Women’s World Championships.
The announcement was made in a brief statement as the 2013 Women’s World Championships closed in Belgrade, Serbia on Sunday. The IHF said that Al Jazeera had also secured the television production rights to the four championships.
Financial figures were not disclosed, but German magazine Handball Time said in November that the IHF had received a record offer from Al Jazeera for the next cycle of global rights to its World Championships. The magazine said that Al Jazeera submitted a bid for the rights spanning four years, from 2014 to 2017, which was worth about CHF100m (€81.1m/$110.2m).
The contract encompasses rights to the 2015 and 2017 men’s World Championships in Qatar and France respectively, along with the 2015 and 2017 women’s events in Denmark and Germany.
The Ufa Sports agency is the current World Championships rights-holder for the 2011 and 2013 World Championships in a deal reportedly worth about CHF60m.