RTL wins Europa League, Europa Conference League in Germany

Broadcaster RTL has secured the broadcast rights to the Uefa Europa League and soon-to-launch Uefa Europa Conference League in Germany.

The win will see RTL be the exclusive broadcaster of the two competitions from 2021-24. Matches will be broadcast on RTL, Nitro and OTT service TV Now.

RTL currently co-owns the broadcast rights to the Europa League with DAZN, with the majority of matches being streamed on the latter’s service and one match available on free-to-air TV.

In comments made to Handelsblatt, RTL CEO Bernd Reichart, said that the rights are “a strong statement” from the broadcaster. He added that the rights buy is part of a €1 billion-per-year outlay on content “for our channels and TV Now.”

Winning the rights to the second- and third-tier European club competitions follows RTL’s acquisition of the rights to the German national men’s team friendly matches in March, announced last week, along with the broadcaster’s four-year deal with Uefa for 28 German national team matches.

The announcement also comes a month after Uefa awarded the Champions League rights to Amazon, with the streamer supplanting Sky Deutschland as the rights holder. It will also be the first time that Uefa has signed up with a streaming-first model in the German market for Europe’s premier football competition.