The FIFA Club World Cup has finally landed a UK free-to-air partner in the form of 5 after DAZN came to a recent agreement with the TV network.
Under the terms of the agreement, 5 will broadcast 23 of the 63 matches set to take place at the FIFA Club World Cup from 14 June – 13 July. DAZN will broadcast the rest of the remaining 40 fixtures, which will be free-to-air in the UK and globally on the DAZN platform.
DAZN obtained the global rights for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in December 2024, which is set to take place in the US this summer.
As part of the new partnership, 5 will sublicense DAZN’s live coverage of 15 group stage matches, four round of 16 matches, two quarter-finals, one semi-final and the final itself of the newly rebranded FIFA competition.
5, which rebranded itself from Channel 5 earlier this year, will broadcast FIFA Club World Cup fixtures on the main 5 channel and on its 5 streaming service, with other matches to be shown on 5USA and 5ACTION.
The deal was brokered with DAZN by Lee Sears, President of International Ad Sales at Paramount – the parent company of 5.
He commented on the agreement, stating: “We’re delighted to be able to have agreed this fantastic partnership with DAZN to expand free-to-air coverage of the FIFA Club World Cup, live on 5. It’s going to be one of the sporting events of the summer with most of the matches played in the evening peak time and 32 of the world’s biggest clubs involved.
“We have a growing line up of live sport on 5 and, thanks to our innovative and agile approach to partnership, we’re ambitious about offering our viewers and our advertisers even more in the months to come.”
Despite the new format of the 32-team Club World Cup featuring some of the globe’s largest football clubs, such as Real Madrid, FC Bayern Munich, and English clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea FC, finding a UK free-to-air partner took longer than expected.
Reports surfaced in early April that DAZN was still without a free broadcast partner in the UK as both the BBC and ITV walked away from the proposition. The BBC reportedly turned down the sublicence offer as it meant promoting DAZN on its broadcast feeds, which went against its traditional non-advertisement broadcasts.
However, having been a broadcast partner of the Club World Cup in the past in its former format, 5 took the opportunity once again to broadcast the competition which may bring more eyes to the competition due to its expansion of more teams and games.
Shay Segev, CEO of DAZN, added: “We are pleased to be partnering with 5 to increase awareness of the inaugural edition of the FIFA Club World Cup in the UK and bring the competition to as many fans as possible across 5 and DAZN.
“The FIFA Club World Cup will bring unparalleled engagement opportunities and in expanding our partner network with 5, we look forward to bringing the tournament to the widest possible audience.”
New eyes but same issues?
While new eyes and interest in the competition will be seen as a positive for FIFA, DAZN and 5, there have been vocal opponents of the new format, believing it is doing more harm for player welfare and were not considered once the new format was confirmed.
As the Club World Cup takes place between 14 June – 13 July, this takes up a large part of players’ typical rest period reserved after a 10-month league season.
However, in order to incentivise club interest in the competition, FIFA announced that prize money for the 32 competing clubs will amount to $1bn in total, with the winners standing to make up to $125m. This may prove vital for club finances in an era of increasingly stringent financial regulations across European football.
