The Swiss Football Association (SFV) has agreed a deal with Swiss public-service broadcaster SRG SSR for selected rights to the Swiss Women’s Super League 2020-21 season, increasing the exposure of the property.
Three of the SRG’s broadcasters – French-language RTS, German-language SRF, and Italian-language RSI – will air up to nine matches live from the league, either online or via their linear channels. The three broadcasters will also broadcast highlights from other matches.
The opening match from the 2020-21 season, between FC St. Gallen-Staad and Grasshopper Club Zürich, will be broadcast on the SRF Zwei and RSI LA2 channels. RTS will stream the match online.
Matches from the league have previously not been broadcast, other than one Super League club which streamed its home matches live. The final from the Swiss Women’s Cup competition has previously been broadcast.
The 2020-21 season is the first for the league under its Swiss Women’s Super League boosts domestic coverage in SRG SSR dealrebranded Swiss Women’s Super League name, having previously been known as the Nationalliga A.
Tatjana Haenni, director of women’s football at the SFV, has described media visibility as “an important piece of the puzzle for the sustainable promotion of women’s football in Switzerland”.
Roland Mägerle, head of Business Unit SSR Sport and SRF Sport, said: “SSR has for some time provided Swiss women’s football with a permanent media platform.
“I am delighted that the Women’s Super League is now part of the SSR offer in the field of football, in addition to women’s national team matches, World Cup and Euro finals, the Cup final as well as some Champions League matches.”
SRG has a wide-ranging deal with the Swiss Football Association running for six seasons, from 2018-19 to 2023-24, which includes matches played by the women’s national team.
Last month, the public-service broadcaster recently missed out on men’s Uefa Champions League rights from 2021-22, after being usurped by media and publishing group CH Media as the free-to-air rights-holder.
The SFV recently unveiled AXA, the multinational insurance firm, as the first major sponsor of the top-tier women’s league in Switzerland. AXA signed a two-year contract to become the title sponsor of the competition that is now known as the AXA Women’s Super League.