The UAE Abu Dhabi Media has announced that it has won the rights to broadcast three Italian football competitions, namely the League, Cup and Super Cup, for a period of three years until 2025.

Abu Dhabi Media did not mention the cost of the contract, which includes the broadcast of three competitions in the Middle East and North Africa in partnership with Stars Play, which provides a video-on-demand service, but Italian media reported last June that it would be at least 75 million euros.

The Italian league will return to Abu Dhabi Sports, one of Abu Dhabi’s media channels, after a 17-year absence before the contract expires due to “legal reasons”.

Due to the lack of a satisfactory offer in the bid last year, the Italian League created its own YouTube channel in Arabic to provide free matches, five matches a day during the first part of the season and then all ten matches. starting from February.

Requests for proposals were not fruitful last year and were particularly affected by the lack of a new offer from BN Sports, which had the exclusive right to move the Italian league to the region until the season before last, but did not renew the contract due to a legal dispute between the Qatari group and Saudi Arabia. The sports network is accused of supporting an illegal satellite broadcast system called beoutQ.

In June 2020, beIN criticized the partnership between the Italian League and Saudi Arabia, which hosted the Italian Super Cup in 2018 and 2019 after the 2014 and 2016 editions were held in the Qatari capital Doha.

Abu Dhabi Media said in a statement that its broadcast rights victory came “following a strong offer from the company to the tender put forward by the Italian League, especially since these tournaments are very popular among football fans in the region and around the world. “

For his part, Haytham Al Katiri, Acting Chief Executive of the Abu Dhabi TV Network, confirmed that “The success of Abu Dhabi Sports Channels in securing exclusive broadcast rights for the Italian League, Cup and Super League confirms the channel’s leadership position. achieved, as well as its technical, technical and media capabilities”.

He continued, “Abu Dhabi Sports will continue to live up to the aspirations of its fans with superior audio and video coverage, reflecting its reputation for broadcasting the most important and biggest local and international tournaments using the latest technology and the highest international standards.” broadcast quality.

Until the season before last, beIN Sports paid around €112m annually for the rights to relocate the Italian league, according to specialist website Calcio Finanza, which is about a third of all income received from the rights to relocate Serie A matches outside of Italy.