DAZN has been selected by the French Professional Football League (LFP) to become the distribution partner of Ligue 1’s new direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service; Ligue 1+.
Ligue 1 matches will once again be available on DAZN for its customers after a four-year broadcast rights agreement collapsed in early May 2025 after just one year between the LFP and DAZN.
Ligue 1+ will launch on August 15, two days prior to the start of the 2025/26 season. The DTC streaming service will be distributed across telecommunication partners such as Orange and Bouygues Telecom, and will be the primary domestic broadcaster of Ligue 1 in France.
This move by a ‘top five’ European league sees Ligue 1+ exclusively broadcast eight games per week, while BeIN Sports retain its one match per week. The streaming service will also broadcast the ninth matchweek fixture on-demand.
DAZN will now be able to showcase Ligue 1 matches on its platform until 2029. DAZN France CEO, Brice Daumin, stated the company is “delighted” with the new agreement.
“DAZN is delighted with this new partnership with the French Professional Football League (or LFP Media),” said Daumin.
“This agreement is fully in line with our ambition to make the best sports content accessible to our subscribers and strengthens our position as a long-term partner of French football.”
The end of the LFP-DAZN saga?
DAZN becoming Ligue 1+’s distribution partner tentatively brings to an end a saga that resulted in the collapse of Ligue 1’s broadcast rights agreement with the sports streaming platform.
After withholding 50% of the LFP and Ligue 1’s broadcast rights payment over beliefs the organisations were not meeting anti-piracy efforts, DAZN ultimately paid the LFP $116m (€100m) to exit the broadcast rights agreement as well as the $162m (€140m) it owed for the final two instalments of the first-year.
This back-and-forth left Ligue 1 in limbo, as broadcast rights revenue is distributed across the league’s clubs and is a vital source of revenue. The league was looking at a loss of $467m (€400m)-per-year as a result of the collapsed DAZN deal.
However, DAZN officials revealed the league was moving ahead with its desires to launch a dedicated streaming service for Ligue 1, a move which is now being realised and will become the first-ever European football league to house its games on a DTC streaming platform.
“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,” said DAZN in a statement.
“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.”
Now with DAZN’s backing, the LFP will be hoping it can achieve its 1 million subscriber benchmark for the end of the 2025/26 season, according to a report from SportsPro. There is also a target of achieving 2.5-2.9 million subscribers over the next four years.
LFP President Vincent Labrune stated to reporters recently that while Ligue 1+ is “risky” and “not easy”, it is a chance to disrupt the European football broadcast landscape and has the full backing of Ligue 1 club owners.
“We have club owners who are ready and who have all endorsed this channel project, which is a medium- to long-term project, because they have the means to cope with one or two years without domestic rights,” said Labrune.
“The channel is risky, it’s not easy, but it’s exciting. It’s an adventure and it’s disruptive. We said we wanted to create an innovative league. French football also means launching your own product.”
