Uefa

Team Marketing, Uefa’s sales agent for the Champions League and Europa League, is in final negotiations with one party – believed to be the Desports agency – over rights in China.

UK commercial broadcaster ITV and pay-television operator Sky have acquired the latest package of football rights for the England national team offered by European governing body Uefa.

Uefa took advantage of strong broadcaster interest in Belgium, driven by the success of the national team, to secure an increase in the value of its national team rights package last month.

Dutch public-service broadcaster NOS has agreed to pay an increase of just over eight per cent for rights to Euro 2020, compared to Euro 2016.

Uefa is confident the European pay-television market – the engine room of value for Champions League media rights – is sufficiently competitive to help it reach its income targets for the next cycle.

Uefa, European football’s governing body, last month secured a strong increase in the value of its national team media rights from telco Digitalb in Albania and Kosovo.

Eleven Sports Network’s deal for Euro 2016 in Singapore also included rights to the 2020 European Championship, plus European Qualifier matches from 2016-17 to 2021-22

Interview with Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director, Uefa Events, on the new European club competition media rights sales cycle.

Fifa and Uefa are set for huge increases in the value of their media rights in sub-Saharan Africa. TV Sports Markets understands bidding in both governing bodies’ tender processes has progressed beyond a first round.

UK commercial broadcaster Channel 4 outbid public-service broadcaster the BBC for rights to the women’s European Championship in 2017.

Lega Serie A and Uefa are in a race to be first to sell their rights in Italy for the period 2018-19 to 2020-21.

Difficulties in the Greek media market meant Uefa suffered a decrease of about 23 per cent in the value of national team qualifying matches last month.

The strength of the UK broadcast market helped English Premier League clubs Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur to receive more prize money last season from football’s European governing body, Uefa, than any other teams participating in the Europa League tournament.

English Premier League football club Manchester City earned €83.8m ($92.18m) in Champions League prize money last season to top the table of payments from European football’s governing body Uefa, thanks to the strength of its national television market.

Uefa has failed to secure any meaningful uplift in value for its national team competitions in deals agreed recently in France and Germany. The deals underline that, while Europe remains the bedrock of value for Uefa, it has become a difficult region in which to achieve growth for its national team properties.

Uefa’s latest deal for its national team rights in Austria is evidence of a change in strategy for sales in Europe from 2018-19, as European football’s governing body attempts to meet its targets for both revenue and exposure.