DAZN has bolstered its suite of football content, acquiring the rights to broadcast all Asian Football Confederation (AFC) competitions in Japan until 2028.
As a result of the media rights deal, the subscription sports streaming service will provide coverage of the AFC Asian Cup and AFC Women’s Asian Cup national team competitions.
Additionally the AFC Champions League club tournament and the AFC Asian qualifiers for the 2022 FIFIA World Cup are included in the package, with DAZN securing the rights to broadcast 14 Asian football competitions in total per cycle.
The acquisition of AFC tournament broadcasting rights builds on DAZN’s previous Japan-facing media deals, having secured coverage of the top-flight men’s J League until 2028 and most recently covering the women’s Yogibo WE League.
Co-Chief Executive of DAZN Group, James Rusthon, remarked: “DAZN agreed a long-term partnership with J.League until 2028 and this investment, following our recent commitment to broadcasting the Yogibo WE League, demonstrates our determination to support Japanese football at all levels, from grassroots to the national team.
“As a key stakeholder we recognise our responsibility to invest in football and ensure that the national team remains accessible so will collaborate with AFC to create a shared vision.”
DAZN has continued to expand its coverage of international football, with one of its most significant media rights deals of 2021 acquiring domestic coverage of Italy’s Serie A until 2024, seeing off competition from former rights holder Sky Italia and Amazon.
Additionally, the London-based firm broadcasts the English Premier League in Spain under the terms of a renewed contract covering the 2022/23 to 2024/25 seasons.
However, boxing remains the platform’s most successful product, with the firm recently inking a ‘game-changing’ international agreement with Matchroom Boxing to stream at least 16 fights exclusively to subscribers in the UK and Ireland.
