This summer’s Uefa European Championship will receive blanket coverage in Russia following deals struck with Match TV, the Gazprom Media-owned broadcaster, and subscription streaming platform Okko.
The deal comes despite Russia being banned from the qualification campaign for the tournament due to its invasion of Ukraine. Uefa already had an agreement in place with the Telesport agency for the on-sale of rights in the country.
It is the first time that Match TV and Okko have teamed up to broadcast a major sports event.
Match TV will show 34 of the 51 matches from Euro 2024 live, with the remaining 17 games exclusive to Okko.
Since the outbreak of the war, Uefa’s media rights deals in Russia have remained in place. Match TV has continued to show the Uefa Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League under its contract running from 2021-22 to 2023-24.
The confederation did, however, terminate its long-running sponsorship with state-owned gas company Gazprom following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Leading European football leagues continue to sell their media rights in Russia as well. The country is included in Bundesliga International’s 10-territory media rights agreement with Infront announced this week.
Match TV’s Euro 2024 package includes the opening game in Munich in June 14 and final in Berlin on July 14, all group-stage matches of host nation Germany, reigning champions Italy, France, Portugal and England.
Ukraine’s three group-stage matches will all be streamed on Okko, but should the nation qualify for the knockout stages, its next match will be televised on Match TV as the broadcaster is slated to show all eight fixtures from the round of 16.
Match TV and Okko will each show two quarter-finals and one semi-final.
The delayed Euro 2020 finals were also broadcast in Russia with coverage shared by Match TV and state-controlled free-to-air channels Channel One and Russia One in deals also secured through Telesport.
Tina Kandelaki, deputy chief executive of Gazprom-Media, said: “It took us a lot of effort, but it was worth it, because fans all over Russia will enjoy the football festival…. I am very grateful to my colleagues that despite all the complexity of the negotiations, thanks to the constructive position of all parties to the deal, we managed to reach the finish line.
“I am sure that such a large and complex case will be the beginning of large-scale projects that we plan to launch in the future together with Okko.”
Sergey Shishkin, chief executive of Okko, added: “For the first time, the European Championship can be watched both on a streaming platform and on a TV channel at the same time. The unprecedented partnership between Okko and Match TV is a landmark moment in the history of sports broadcasting [in Russia].
“There are now a number of restrictions on the media rights market from foreign copyright holders, but this year Russian viewers will be able to watch the European Championship.”
Euro 2024 international rights are sold by CAA Eleven, Uefa’s exclusive agency for men’s national teams competitions.