The CAA Eleven agency has launched an invitation to tender in Poland for Uefa national team rights in the new 2022-28 cycle, SportBusiness understands.
The rights on offer include the ‘European Qualifiers’ from 2022-23 to 2027-28, the three Nations League tournaments (in 2022-23, 2024-25 and 2026-27) and Nations League Finals, any centralised friendly matches over the same period, as well as both the 2024 and 2028 European Championships.
It is understood that a bid deadline of midday (CET) on October 27 has been set.
In the current 2018-19 to 2021-22 cycle, public-service broadcaster TVP acquired exclusive free-to-air rights to all of the Poland national team’s European qualifying matches, all Poland matches in the 2018-19 and 2020-21 Nations League tournaments, and exclusive rights to the entirety of Euro 2020.
Pay-television broadcaster Polsat acquired all third-party rights, namely matches not featuring the Polish national team in the European Qualifiers and Nations League, plus next-day delayed rights to all Poland matches in the two competitions, and rights to simulcast the semi-final and final of the Nations League should Poland be involved.
The Polish sales process follows on from the launch of the new six-year cycle with the tender in the Nordics, which came after CAA Eleven renewed its exclusive sales mandate with Uefa.
Separate but concurrent sales processes were issued for the European Championship rights (Euro 2024 and Euro 2028) and the ‘Uefa National Team Football’ rights (Uefa Nations League, European Qualifiers, and friendly matches). Broadcasters interested in acquiring rights to Euro 2028 as well as Euro 2024 were asked to lodge separate bids on a standalone basis.
An early sales process for Euro 2024 rights only was concluded in Germany last year (with telco Deutsche Telekom securing the rights), but that was considered an individual case as Uefa and CAA Eleven moved early to secure a lucrative agreement in the host country.