Uefa, European football’s governing body, has agreed a host of rights deals for the European qualifying games for the Euro 2016 and 2018 Fifa World Cup national team tournaments.
Finnish public-service broadcaster YLE has acquired live rights to the qualification matches of the Finnish national team, which it will provide through its YLE2 channel.
International sports broadcaster Setanta has acquired all rights to the European Qualifiers, with the exception of the live matches featuring the respective national team, in Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova.
Uefa has also sealed a number of agreements for the European Qualifiers package outside of Europe.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has acquired the rights, while the MP & Silva agency will exploit the rights in Japan. Setanta has picked up the rights in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Chinese digital-terrestrial operator StarTimes has secured the rights for sub-Saharan Africa, while satellite-television operator Zap will broadcast games in Angola and Mozambique. Sports broadcaster ESPN will offer the European Qualifiers in Oceania.
The CAA Eleven agency brokered the deals on behalf of Uefa.