OneFootball and Sportfive expand Bundesliga coverage to nine LatAm countries

OneFootball, the Germany-based digital platform, has expanded its free-to-air Bundesliga streaming coverage to a further nine Latin American countries to complement initial agreement in Brazil.

The deal will see free-to-air streaming in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela for all matches during the 2020-21 Bundesliga season.

OneFootball will also broadcast the German Super Cup and end-of-season promotion and relegation play-off matches.

OneFootball agreed the deal with Bundesliga International, the league’s international commercial arm, alongside the Sportfive agency and will broadcast matches through the OneFootball app.

The deal expands on the Brazil agreement which covers a three-season cycle between 2020-21 and 2022-23.

In Brazil, Bundesliga International retained the rights to sell one match per match week non-exclusively to a linear broadcaster. These rights were sold to commercial broadcaster Band (Brazil). Bundesliga International is making certain matches available to local and free-to-air linear broadcasters across Latin America on a non-exclusive basis.

Claro Sports, the broadcaster owned by telecoms giant América Móvil, recently announced its acquisition of Bundesliga rights across Latin America, excluding Brazil. Matches are being shown on the Claro Sports channel with the telecoms giant continuing its cross-platform approach through the free streaming of matches on the Marco Claro digital platform.

Shortly after the announcement of the Brazilian rights deal, OneFootball announced that it would be integrating betting operator VBET’s services through its app as part of a wider sponsorship agreement.

Fox held the Bundesliga rights across the Americas from 2015-16 to 2019-20 as part of an 80-territory deal that also included selected territories in Asia and Europe.

Lucas von Cranach, chief executive and founder of OneFootball, said today (Wednesday): “Our new partnership with Bundesliga International continues our mission to democratise football as OneFootball will now be streaming live action from one of the most exciting leagues in the world directly to fans for free throughout South America. The innovative model we are pioneering solidifies our presence in the market and offers a new generation of football fans readily available, personalised, live content at their fingertips.”

Robert Klein, chief executive of Bundesliga International, added: “We want more fans to experience and enjoy the fast, attacking football of the Bundesliga and OneFootball’s highly engaged subscriber base delivers that audience throughout South America. We are excited to continue to our partnership with OneFootball and make the Bundesliga freely available to millions of people across the region.”