DFB new media deals ‘key’ for German football’s development

The German Football League (DFB) has secured a big boost to its revenues after extending several long-standing media arrangements for the next rights cycle.

The continuing media partners of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 are Sky Deutschland, DAZN and RTL, with Sky and DAZN holding the lion’s share of live match coverage.

Meanwhile, Pay-TV rights will be divided between the broadcaster and the OTT platform. Sky will cover single matches on Friday and Saturday, including the top evening match on the latter, along with all Bundesliga 2 matches.

DAZN will show the Saturday conference and all single Bundesliga matches on Sunday in Germany and the wider DAZN regions, with other markets being Austria, East Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol and Switzerland.

The rights cycles cover the period from the 2025/26 season to the 2028/29 season. The DFB has been keen to highlight how revenue from this cycle marks a 2% increase on the previous one, amounting to €4.5bn in total and €1.1bn per season.

DFB CEO, Marc Lenz, commented: “The financial security achieved with this result is a key foundation for the positive development of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2.

“From this position of strength, we must tackle the economic, sporting and political challenges – and continue to develop our leagues together with the 36 clubs and make them fit for the future.”

The final pay-TV broadcaster included in this rights cycle is RTL. The company has secured additional pay-TV rights to Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 highlights alongside free-to-air coverage of the Saturday evening match.

The rest of the rights have been split between several free-to-air rights holders. In addition to RTl, Sat.1 will cover the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 season openers, the relegation play-offs and the Super Cup.

Free-to-air highlights shows have been divided further between three outlets. ARD has secured highlights of the early Saturday evening, Friday evening and Sunday evening Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches.

ZDF has retained the rights to the second airing of the Saturday evening Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 highlights and the first showing of the top match highlights. Finally, Sport1 has the highlights for the Friday and Saturday games, to be broadcast on Sunday morning.

“The result of the tender underlines the unbroken popularity of German professional football, despite economically challenging times,” added DFB CEO, Steffen Merkel.

“Trust and unity within the league association have paid off. At the end of an intensive process, a very good and comprehensively secured financial result has now been achieved.

“The clubs now have planning security at a high financial level for another four years. For the fans, our future partners in both the pay and free-to-air markets will provide a high degree of consistency.

“We would like to thank all media partners for their strong commitment to our leagues. Together, the clubs and the DFL will justify this trust in the coming years by working even more closely with our partners and providing them with the best possible support in achieving their goals.”