DAZN to launch in Brazil next year

Sports streaming service, DAZN, is due to launch in Brazil in March 2019, marking its ninth confirmed country launch.

The service, which is live in seven markets with Spain to follow early next year, has secured the exclusive broadcast rights for all Copa Sudamericana matches in Brazil for four seasons from 2019.

In Brazil, DAZN will also show all Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1 football matches exclusively until 2021.

In the run-up to its launch DAZN will broadcast selected matches from these leagues for free via its Facebook and YouTube pages, starting December 7.

DAZN said that “more major rights” for its Brazilian service will be announced soon.

“Football is a way of life in Brazil and so launching there with such significant rights is a huge moment for DAZN, cementing us as the fastest growing sports broadcaster in the world,” said Simon Denyer, CEO of DAZN Group.

“We’ve expanded our footprint to nine countries on four continents in just over two years, and that is only the beginning.”

Alejandro Dominguez, the president of CONMEBOL, the South American Football Confederation, said: “We are delighted to announce this agreement with DAZN and for Brazilian football fans to be able experience Copa Sudamericana games through a new and exciting platform.

“DAZN’s fans first approach of offering flexible and affordable access to the world’s biggest sports is a perfect fit for us and we look forward to working with them over the next few seasons.”

The news comes two weeks after DAZN announced plans to launch in Spain early next year, having secured the rights for English Premier League football and MotoGP motorcycle racing in the country.

DAZN first launched in August 2016, debuting in Japan, Germany, Austria and Switzerland before going live in Canada in 2017 and in Italy and the US in 2018.