The Walt Disney Company’s cornerstone streaming service Disney Plus has inked a deal with UEFA to serve as the exclusive distributor of UEFA Europa League and Europa Conference League matches in Denmark and Sweden.
The deal starts with the 2024-25 season and lasts through the end of the 2026-27 season, with Disney Plus streaming over 340 lives games from the second-tier and third-tier European club football competitions each season.
The agreement marks the first time Disney Plus has scored soccer rights in Europe. Previously, the rights to UEFA soccer matches were held by TV2 in Denmark and the Viaplay streaming service in Sweden.
“Our aim is delivering the best offer for fans who are passionate about football while spreading the two tournaments to a larger audience and introducing the rights to a new generation of fans and supporters,” Hans van Rijn, the CEO of Disney’s Nordic and Baltic businesses, said in a statement.
Disney joins a growing list of foreign media companies snatching up rights to live sports in Europe. Last month, Amazon’s Prime Video said it would start streaming matches played by Premier League to customers in the Nordic countries. Last year, Apple began offering telecasts of Major League Soccer games in Denmark as part of its worldwide global broadcast rights.
