Virgin Media, the commercial free-to-air Irish broadcaster, has successfully retained its UEFA Champions League (UCL) rights through to the 2026-27 season. The deal extends Virgin's relationship with UEFA and its Team Marketing agency partner.
The broadcaster currently holds UCL rights alongside TNT Sports and RTE. This new agreement will see Virgin Media secure rights to 166 Champions League games each season for the next three campaigns from European soccer’s top-tier UCL. The rights cover the seasons of 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27.
Under this new deal, Virgin Media Television will cover eight live games per match week. These matches will be split between Virgin Media Two and Virgin Media More across Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This is a continuation of their coverage during the ongoing cycle which ends on June 1st.
Other broadcasters sharing UCL broadcasting duties in this current cycle include TNT Sports - which holds rights across UK and Ireland - as well as public-service network RTE.
UCL new format brings big opportunity for broadcasters
The tender for Irish UCL rights covering these upcoming seasons was launched last June. It's important to note that starting from the season of 2024-25, there will be significant changes to the format of UCL games.
Aine Ni Chaoindealbhain, managing director at Virgin Media Television, said:
“The UEFA Champions League is the biggest and most prestigious club competition in the world, and we are delighted to extend our partnership with UEFA to continue to bring the best of the action to Irish viewers free-to-air.
“The new format brings more big games between the top teams, and we will have more UEFA Champions League fixtures than ever before.”
Instead of being split into multiple groups from which teams qualify for knockout stages, it will take on a single-league structure. Additionally, there'll be an expansion from current number of participating teams (32) to a total of 36 teams with an increase in matches played from current count (125) to a whopping total of 189 matches.
In terms of Irish involvement in recent years' competitions; Scottish side Celtic – who did not make it out past group stages – featured several Irish players during their 2023-24 UCL campaign.
Champions League rights tenders are going on in many countries
Aside from TNT Sports, live UK rights to UCL action during the next cycle will be held by Amazon Prime Video streaming service. Highlights of these games will be shown by the BBC, a public-service broadcaster.
Recent broadcast deals for the upcoming cycle have also been unveiled in other countries. In Canada, sports streaming service DAZN has secured broadcasting rights while in Turkey, national public broadcaster TRT will be airing the matches.
Virgin Media's continued partnership with UEFA and its expanded coverage of UCL games is a win for Irish soccer fans who can look forward to more exciting matches and comprehensive coverage over the next few years.
