The global video streaming service Dazn has made the stunning announcement that it intends to broadcast every single match from next year’s controversial FIFA Club World Cup 2025 tournament around the world, free of charge.
The announcement means that millions of football fans who’ve never even heard of Dazn will soon be scrambling to download the sports-focused streaming service, which claims to have more than 300 million viewers already.
Despite that not insignificant user base, Dazn is a relatively unknown, U.K.-based streaming service that’s available in more than 200 countries. When it launched back in 2016, it was originally focused on fighting sports like boxing and wrestling, but has expanded considerably to cover a wide range of sports, including some Premier League football matches, plus American Football, major league baseball, basketball and ice hockey, as well as Formula One races.
The reason most people have never heard of it is that its coverage is extremely varied from region to region, and while it does broadcast some Premier League football games, it’s only allowed to do so in a handful of countries.
However, Dazn has achieved something of a coup by nabbing the global streaming rights to the FIFA Club World Cup, meaning it will be able to livestream all of the games to every country. What’s more, it has made the very welcome decision to stream those games to everyone in the world at no cost.
We don’t know yet if there are going to be any caveats. Dazn normally charges subscription fees to access its service, and in the U.K. its cheapest offering costs £14.99 per month, though it does offer a free trial. Clearly, the company will attempt to entice viewers to sign up and become paying customers somehow, but we don’t know what its exact plans are just yet.
The FIFA Club World Cup is a hugely controversial new tournament created by football’s top governing organisation that’s modeled on the FIFA World Cup for national teams. Rather than having nations, it will be contested by 32 clubs drawn from FIFA’s six confederations – Europe, South America, North and Central America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The inaugural tournament is being hosted in the U.S., where it will run from June 15 to July 13.
Notable clubs appearing in the tournament include Man City, Chelsea, Juventus, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid as representatives of Europe, as well as the newly-crowned Copa Libertadores champion Botafogo, and giants such as Boca Juniors and River Plate from South America. Africa will be represented by the likes of Al Ahly and Espérance Sportive de Tunis; Asia by Al Ain and Urawa Red Diamonds; North and Central America by CF Monterrey and Inter Miami; and Oceania's sole representative is Auckland City FC.
The new tournament has been heavily criticised, with player unions and representatives of domestic leagues taking issue with the heavier schedule it imposes on the world’s top footballers.
The main complaint is that it adds yet more matches to an already heavily congested football calendar, which includes domestic league and cup games, UEFA tournaments and international fixtures. With the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship both taking place every four years, the world’s top players have traditionally always had every other summer off to recuperate, but the FIFA Club World Cup, which includes a group stage and a knockout stage, means they’ll only get one summer off every four years.
Despite the criticism, FIFA has been steadfast in its determination to press ahead with the event, and recently struck a deal that saw global TV brand Hisense become its first major sponsor.
"The new FIFA Club World Cup is a merit-based, inclusive tournament that will be the pinnacle of global club football, capturing the imagination of players and fans across the world,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “Through this broadcasting agreement, billions of football fans worldwide can now watch what will be the most widely accessible club football tournament ever - and FOR FREE.”
The New York Times reported that Dazn won the rights to broadcast the tournament after beating out a competing bid from Apple, which would have likely charged fans to watch it through its premium Apple TV streaming service.
Dazn said all 63 matches will be available completely free, and it’s also planning to create associated content for the tournament, such as analysis shows and documentaries.
"This groundbreaking deal with FIFA is a major milestone in Dazn’s journey to be the ultimate entertainment platform of choice for sports fans everywhere,” said Dazn Chief Executive Shay Segev. “We’re delighted to have the exclusive rights to this new chapter in global club football, marking the start of our long-term relationship with FIFA and cementing our status as the home of football.”
