UEFA Champions League goes FTA in Ireland with LiveScore deal

Sports app LiveScore has announced a three-year distribution deal with UEFA to live-stream the Champions League for free in Ireland.

From the start of the 2021/22 season, LiveScore users in the country will have access to 104 matches live for free. LiveScore will be the exclusive Irish free-to-air broadcaster of Europe’s top flight football competition, while the remaining 33 ties, including the UEFA Champions League Final, will also be live-streamed on a non-exclusive basis. The deal also includes the UEFA Super Cup.

Matches will be viewable on iOS and Android devices, while the LiveScore app will allow users to cast video to the big screen. 

The deal compliments a quietly growing portfolio of live sports rights for LiveScore. By the conclusion of the 2020/21 season, more than 1,250 matches across 15 different leagues and competitions will have been streamed by LiveScore within Ireland including 300 from Italy’s Serie A.

Ric Leask, marketing director at LiveScore, said: “We are extremely excited to announce this significant new rights deal, which will provide fully free-to-air live coverage of every single UEFA Champions League match to football fans in Ireland. We look forward to being there for every step of the season, as we bring our users closer to the action with our full offering of live-streamed matches and supporting content.”

Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director at UEFA, said: “UEFA is delighted to welcome LiveScore as the new broadcaster of UEFA Champions League rights in the Republic of Ireland. We are excited to see the innovative coverage it will deliver and to bring comprehensive coverage of the best of European club football to Irish fans for free.”