Uefa, football’s European governing body, has invited media companies to register their interest in the global tender process for the rights covering European qualifying matches for the Euro 2016 and Fifa 2018 World Cup tournaments.
Uefa has invited “qualified partners” with sufficient experience and infrastructure to register their interest via email, but did not give a deadline for submissions.
The tender process, which Uefa said would be launched shortly, will mark the culmination of the governing body’s move to a centralised media rights sales process for the European qualifiers, which were previously sold individually by Europe’s 53 federations. All 53 federations have signed up to the project, which was one of Uefa president Michel Platini’s key initiatives when he secured a second term in office in March 2011.
Uefa cleared one of the last major hurdles for the project by agreeing a deal with the AMI agency for the rights in central and eastern Europe and central Asia for England’s Euro 2016 qualifiers. AMI had acquired these rights in a deal with the English Football Association which was agreed before the centralisation project was fully formed. Uefa is understood to have bought the rights back and can add them to the global qualifiers tender.
Uefa was still in talks last week with pay-television broadcaster Al Jazeera to buy back rights for England Euro 2016 qualifier rights in the Middle East. Al Jazeera had the rights under another deal the English FA agreed prior to the emergence of the centralisation project.