Football fans across the globe can see a change in how they watch UEFA Champions League after Netflix is expected to bid for the global rights of the tournament showing match per round. As reported by The Times, the new deal stems from the latest overhaul of UEFA's broadcasting model as the European body is restructuring the TV rights to generate more revenue. Starting from the 2027–28 season, UEFA and the European Football Clubs (EFC), previously known as the European Club Association, are planning to revamp the TV rights for Champions League, Europa League and the Conference league. The plan is to attract more and more streaming giants as Amazon already airs one Champions League fixture per round in the UK, Germany, and Italy. If Netflix wins the bid, they get to pick one of the Tuesday fixtures to stream. However, they shall face restrictions on how often they can feature a single team. For instance, Netflix can’t pick Real Madrid for every game they wish to broadcast on their outlet. The European governing body believes that this deal can give them at least €5 billion (about £4.4 billion) a year. As quoted by The Times, Uefa’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, told the EFC annual assembly in Rome that the new format of the Champions League had proved a huge success. “Together we are building something unique with ambition, to deliver the most engaging football, the most innovative and the most accessible to expand our core revenue streams," said Ceferin. Currently, the American sports marketing agency Relevent is selling the rights to the competitions on behalf of Uefa. Netflix's foray in sports While Netflix hasn't entered the Sports broadcasting landscape in a big way, it garnered huge viewership with the launch of documentaries like Drive to Survive and Sprint. It has shown an NFL American football match at Christmas and the Mike Tyson v Jake Paul boxing match, which was a major success for the platform in terms of viewers — it hit a peak of 65 million streams. This year also, Netflix broadcasted the fight between Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez garnering over 40 million viewers. Netflix has also bought the US rights for Fifa’s 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cup.
