Al-Jazeera Sports Wins Champions League Rights in France

DOHA: Al-Jazeera has been awarded the French broadcasting rights for the majority of the Champions League matches for the 2012-13 and 2014-15 seasons, beating out Canal+.

The deal is for four of five available media packages, including 133 matches, to air live across its TV channels, Internet and mobile services. The UEFA still has to sell rights to 13 ‘premium’ matches per year.

Al-Jazeera replaces incumbents TF1 and Canal Plus as the UEFA’s main broadcast partner in France.

Commenting on the award of these French media rights, the UEFA said: "UEFA welcomes the opportunity to develop a partnership with al-Jazeera in France. We highly value their production expertise and commitment towards the UEFA Champions League in the Middle East and North Africa and we look forward to being part of their channel development in France. The level of interest in the UEFA Champions League rights confirms the continuing strength of the competition."