Digital sports content platform FanCode has agreed a multi-year rights deal to Indian club football competition the I-League.
The contract, agreed with Lex Sportel Vision, takes effect with the ongoing 2019-20 season.
FanCode will offer live streaming of matches, real-time match clips and highlights, news and in-depth game analysis.
Yannick Colaco, co-founder of FanCode, said: “This partnership is in sync with FanCode’s focus to provide comprehensive sports access to underserved sports fans in India…
“…with this partnership, we are sure to see an increase in the reach and popularity of the league multiple-fold.”
FanCode’s exclusive broadcast and digital rights agreement, which spans the 2019-20 to 2021-22 period, was agreed between the All India Football Federation and Lex Sportel Vision.
The deal has been signed after pay-television broadcaster DSport in November agreed a three-season deal to become the new domestic broadcaster of the I-League.
At that time, the AIFF also awarded Ireland-based Instat a contract spanning the same three-season period to produce the feed for live television coverage. Instat will produce all 110 I-League games per season with an eight-camera setup.
The I-League was previously broadcast by pay-television broadcaster Star. In January 2019, the AIFF and Star announced that I-League matches not shown on linear television would be livestreamed on Star’s Hotstar and JioTV platforms. I-League club owners were thought to have been upset at Star’s plans to broadcast only 30 of the league’s remaining fixtures live on its pay-television channels.
The I-League has been replaced by the Indian Super League as the country’s top-tier competition. The Asian Football Confederation in October rubber-stamped the roadmap for Indian football that gave the ISL top-tier status.