DAZN ends Ligue 1 broadcast rights three years early

DAZN has announced it will terminate its broadcast rights to Ligue 1 just one year into its recently formed four-year deal.

DAZN will pay the LFP €100m to exit the agreement, as well as the remaining €140m it owes to the organisation for the final two instalments, according to French sports outlet L’Équipe.

After several months of deliberation, DAZN and the Professional Football League (LFP) – French football’s governing body – came to the decision after LFP Directors voted to terminate the contract. 

The agreement will be presented to the Ligue 1 Board of Directors on 2 May for it to be finalised. 

The news comes just a few months after DAZN’s partnership with BetConstruct, as it prepared to launch its DAZN Bet sports betting offering in France.

A statement regarding the LFP partnership suggested that there is an option to exit the contract that binds DAZN to the league. The French football league is now focusing on developing a direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service.

The statement added: This will give back its freedom to the LFP to launch its own 100% Ligue 1 antenna next season by probing the market to find a partner. DAZN is clearly positioned to be that one.

“Coming to France, losing money and stopping after a year does not make much sense. We are convinced that we can bring great added value to the league as part of this chain project.

“Leaving the clubs in the unknown with a chain project that does not yet have the beginning of something concrete seems extremely adventurous to us three and a half months before the start of the championship.”

“We are ready to invest a hundred million euros for this channel.”

However, there is still an opportunity for the pair to continue working together in the future. 

DAZN could provide operational support by sublicensing games on its platform if the governing body follows through with the aforementioned standalone DTC streaming platform.

Yet it is important to note that the LFP would have to waive the €100m compensation fee for DAZN and the LFP to work together again.

Looking back to 2023, in that year alone DAZN extended its US-facing agreement with Matchroom Boxing, signed a sub-licencing deal with French Ligue 1 broadcaster Canal+, and renewed both its Spanish Formula One deal and Italian Serie A partnership.

What went wrong? 

LFP highlighted that it had yet to receive half of its remaining instalments which the global streaming platform withheld, causing a legal dispute since the start of 2025.

DAZN argued that the LFP was failing in its collaboration with the platform to fight piracy and illegal streaming of its Ligue 1 broadcasts, which ultimately saw the LFP take legal action against DAZN. 

Also at the start of the year, DAZN reported that it remains a loss-making enterprise, according to filings with Companies House, despite a plethora of prominent new media rights deals over the previous two years.

However, DAZN did assert that it ‘expects to continue driving improvements in margin towards profitability’.