Stan Sport Football Coverage

STAN TO CONTINUE AS HOME OF UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE UNTIL 2027

Stan Sport will continue as the exclusive Home of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League in Australia with multi-year partnership extension.

10 May, 2023 – Stan today announced it has extended its partnership with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), securing exclusive broadcast rights to every match of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League, alongside rights to the UEFA Super Cup for a further three years through to the 2026/27 season.

The exciting new competition structure introduced from the 2024/25 season will establish a league phase to replace the group stages, with qualifying clubs no longer playing each opponent twice but instead facing eight different opponents. This will include huge matches between Europe’s top teams in this early phase of competition. The new format also introduces a new “knock-out playoff round”, eliminating the traditional European football break in January and giving more clubs a chance to progress to the knock-out stages. From the 2024/25 season, fans will be able to enjoy over 540 matches across all competitions live and exclusive on Stan Sport, a 31% increase from the current schedule.

The combination of a world-class live streaming platform with the highest reach in Australia, alongside Nine’s broader TV and media assets, means Stan is better placed than any other TV business in Australia to support UEFA through a significant new chapter for the world’s best club football competitions.

Stan will continue to deliver every UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League match ad-free, live and exclusive. Select matches will continue to be made available in stunning 4K Ultra HD, with Stan the only streaming platform in Australia delivering live sports content of this quality. For the first time, from the 2024/25 season, all three finals will also be simulcast live to a national audience on the 9Network and streamed on 9Now.

Stan will also evolve its world-class studio coverage with the latest technologies and analysis presented by some of football’s most trusted voices both in Australia and on the ground in Europe.

The current UEFA Champions League season returns this week for two blockbuster Semi-Finals, Real Madrid v Man City (Wednesday 4:35am AEDT) and Milan v Inter (Thursday 4:35am AEDT), with all the action streaming ad-free, live and exclusive in 4K Ultra HD on Stan Sport.

In addition to remaining the long-term Home of UEFA club football, Stan has further affirmed its position in the local sports streaming market with confirmation that it will continue as the Home of Rugby, committing to a multi-year extension with Rugby Australia. This extends Stan and Nine’s exclusive rights to Southern Hemisphere rugby past the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France, encompassing Super Rugby, Super W, The Rugby Championship, including the Bledisloe Cup, Wallaroos Tests, Shute Shield, Hospital Cup, NPC & Currie Cup, plus the July Test Series. This extension also includes exclusive broadcast rights to the eagerly anticipated 2025 British & Irish Lions Series.

Stan Chief Executive Officer Martin Kugeler said:
“Stan’s partnership with UEFA has been a key pillar of our sports business, and we are delighted to continue broadcasting the world’s best club football competitions until 2027. We have seen very strong audience numbers and extremely positive feedback from fans during our first two seasons. We will continue to deliver our viewers amazing pre- and post-match coverage as well as an outstanding viewing experience.

The expanded competition format from the 2024/25 season will deliver our subscribers even more world-class football content with additional match-ups, extra teams and more live games than ever before. We are thrilled to have been entrusted with the broadcast rights of the UEFA club competitions through this exciting new era.”

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Sad day for European football competitions.

What for?

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He has a massive disdain for Football on Stan Sport.

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Should mean they are more likely to renew the overseas slams contracts when they come to renew

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It’s a sad day for you.
I imagine they might be quite happy.

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I have Stan Sport for Rugby and football. Nine will want the A-Leagues and AFC/Socceroos when the rights are up for grabs. With no cricket for the forseeable future, Nine has no sport in summer outside of December/January with the tennis on.

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You’re right! I prefer not to pay $31 per month (on a fixed income) just to watch my team play in Europe. Nothing much else on Stan is of interest to me. Nine need to drop the greed and allow sport only subscriptions. Would have much preferred Optus or Paramount+ to get the rights. Not to mention Stan studio coverage is very average,

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Replace the word greed with business sense…

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I honestly don’t believe that Nine have the right mix of sports to support having a sport-only tier. The Champions League is nice to have, but without having the Premier League, it limits the draw for fans. Rugby is scrapping with football at the bottom of the football codes. Outside of the Australian Open, you need to have an Australian doing well at the tennis majors for people to watch. The motorsport package is decent, but it could still do with either the Supercars or F1 to draw eyeballs.

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The minimum to access Stan sport is $25 - though agree it’s still expensive

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Agree that a sport only plan would be great for the consumer - though looking at it through a business lens, it unfortunately wouldn’t make much sense. Perhaps selling the two packs as a bundle at a discounted rate may be a good compromise?

Getting the FA Cup would be ideal for them; though they would mean business if they go after the A-Leagues/National Teams deal as well. Who knows, Paramount may very well feel dudded by how things have gone with the FA and APL…

Just FA now :+1:

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Inter Milan will face Manchester City in next month’s Champions League final in Istanbul, after winning their semi final series against AC Milan and Real Madrid respectively.

UPDATE 19/5: The finalists for the Europa League and Europa Conference League finals were decided this morning Australian time.

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Stan Sport’s coverage of 2023/24 UEFA season begins early Wednesday morning (September 20 AEST) with the first round of Champions League group matches. PSG v Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich v Manchester United will also streamed live in 4K.

Stan’s broadcast schedule can be found here

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