Paramount Wins European Rights to Soccer's Champions League in $11.5 Billion Auction — Update

By Adria Calatayud and Najat Kantouar

Paramount Skydance won most media rights to show soccer's UEFA Champions League in the U.K. and Germany, securing prized live-sports properties in an auction that raised 10 billion euros ($11.53 billion) in total.

A joint venture between UEFA, European soccer's governing body, and European Football Clubs--an association of the continent's top clubs--will get 2.5 billion euros a season for the media rights in Europe's top five markets, a person familiar with the auction said. Proceeds from the auction--which included rights for the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Spain from the 2027-28 season to the 2030-31 season--were up from around 2 billion euros a season in the previous cycle, the person said.

Big tech players and traditional broadcasters are vying for rights to air and stream top sports competitions, leading to an increasingly divided landscape. Live sports, the most valuable content on TV, are a big draw for media companies as they seek to attract and retain audiences and boost advertising revenue.

Amazon.com's Prime Video, Comcast's Sky, France's Canal+ and Spain's Telefonica were named alongside Paramount as preferred bidders for the media rights of the men's Champions League in the five countries, the organization behind the auction said Friday.

UC3, a joint venture between UEFA and European Football Clubs, controls the marketing and sale of commercial rights for UEFA club competitions. Earlier this year, UC3 appointed Relevent Football Partners, a subsidiary of New York-based sports promoter Relevent Sports, to handle the process.

Paramount won the rights to air most Champions League games in the U.K. and Germany, UC3 said. The company also has the U.S. media rights for the competition.

Prime Video got rights for one Champions League game a week in the U.K. and Germany, UC3 added.

In Italy, Prime Video secured rights to pick one game a week, with pay-TV operator Sky winning the rest of the country's package, according to UC3.

Sky also secured rights to exclusively broadcast in the U.K. and Italy every game for UEFA's second- and third-tier continental competitions--the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League, the company said.

Telefonica and Canal+ separately said they won exclusive rights to show all UEFA club competitions in their respective domestic markets for the four seasons, retaining packages they already had.

Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica said it would pay 1.46 billion euros for the exclusive media rights in Spain for the four seasons, or 366 million euros a season.

Meanwhile, French media company Canal+ said it renewed all exclusive rights to UEFA club competitions in France for the four-season period.

Sky and Canal+ didn't disclose financial details.

Write to Adria Calatayud at Najat Kantouar at najat.kantouar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2025 09:33 ET (14:33 GMT)