DAZN assembles biggest on-air team ever to cover women’s football for a single broadcaster and unveils new plans around the ‘We All Rise’ city series, Game of the Week, social content, and more
The new global research report further underlines partnership commitment to close the women’s sports coverage and viewership gap
With the group stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League officially kicking off, global sports streaming platform and host broadcaster DAZN together with partner YouTube are thrilled to begin live broadcast coverage for fans around the world, marking the official start to the landmark multi-year deal announced earlier this year. From tomorrow 5 October through to the finals in May, all 61 matches will be available live on DAZN and free globally on DAZN’s new UEFA Women’s Champions League YouTube channel.
As it’s the first time UEFA has centralized all Women’s Champions League matches, through the partnership with DAZN and YouTube, fans for the first time will finally be able to follow every single match, throughout the entire season, all around the world, in one single place, for free – making the best women’s football monumentally easier to watch than ever before. This type of universal availability and exposure is long overdue and essential to grow the competition and ensure women’s football overall rises into the ubiquitous mainstream – where it belongs.
“I am thrilled about this partnership. For people to have access to our games wherever they are is a massive move in the right direction, which was long overdue in my eyes. And looking at the content DAZN is planning, to put the spotlight on players and stories across all places, will take things to the next level too,” said Ada Hegerberg, all-time highest scorer in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, Olympique Lyonnais superstar, and DAZN’s first ever season-long global women’s football ambassador who is eyeing a long-awaited comeback soon. “UEFA Women’s Champions League is coming close and I can’t wait for this season to start and show the world what we are made of!”
Building on a long-time commitment to women’s sport and a long-term mission of growing the women’s game, DAZN has now also unveiled its initial content, broadcast coverage, talent, and social plans that will bring even more visibility to players, clubs, and the elite competition itself.
“We All Rise” Series – More In-Depth Storytelling
The debut content on DAZN’s UEFA Women’s Champions League YouTube channel was “We All Rise With More Eyes” – a campaign film conveying the brand’s unwavering belief in the ripple effect more visibility will have on taking the women’s competition to new heights. Building on this and a shared mission with UEFA and YouTube of turning more athletes into household names and inspiring the next generation of players, DAZN is unveiling the next instalment of “We All Rise”: a special six-part series that will shine a light on women’s football in six influential European cities, from grassroots and local community to the professional game itself.
Each week of the group stage play, DAZN will premiere a new short-form episode at halftime across all matches that features a diverse mix of locals from each city – including pro footballers, coaches, grassroots players, clubs, local officials, and more. Collectively, their unique voices and powerful experiences converge to tell the firsthand story of that city’s rich history of the game and revealing how – finally – women’s football is indeed on the rise.
The six-city tour will start in the UK, with the first episode “We All Rise: London” premiering tomorrow and featuring interviews with members of English club team Dulwich Hamlet, community girls football club Hackney Laces, Britain’s first female Muslim football referee JJ Roble, former manager of the Arsenal women’s team Vic Akers O.B.E., London Mayor Sadiq Khan, star players and legends including Katie Chapman, and more.
Next, the storytelling journey travels to France with “We All Rise: Paris”; this second episode will star freestyle footballer and Common Goal member Lisa Zimouche, PSG player Kadidiatou Diani, PSG Academy up-and-comer Laurina Fazer, PSG legend and Common Goal member Arianna Criscione, Muslim women’s football community collective Les Hijabeuses, inclusive amateur women’s football team Cacahuètes, and more. Following its broadcast premiere, each episode will also individually be available for fans to watch on both DAZN and YouTube.
Game of the Week – More All-Access Coverage
Continuing the showcase of the best of women’s football throughout the entire UEFA Women’s Champions League, DAZN will also travel to a different city each week for its official Game of The Week – giving viewers on DAZN and on YouTube an up close and personal look at all aspects of the game. The Game of the Week will be hosted by a rotating group of iconic faces from football and the wider sports and entertainment world and, beyond the live-action itself, take viewers onto and beyond the pitch as well as behind-the-scenes with their favourite players.
The first Game of the Week will be Barcelona vs Arsenal on 5 October and the second will be Juventus vs Chelsea on 13 October, with both featuring a top-notch presentation team soon to be unveiled.
On-Air Talent Squad – More Expertise and Reach
Ahead of the live broadcast kicking off tomorrow, DAZN is proud to have lined up the biggest on-air team ever assembled to cover women’s football for a single broadcaster – including dozens of professional commentators all over the world, from former players to the biggest names in football broadcasting across England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Portugal, and Ukraine.
With this historic women’s football pundit squad in place, DAZN will guarantee every single match for the season to be available for global audiences in up to three languages: 1. home team language 2. away team language and 3. if not already covered, English. This marks a first in UEFA Women’s Champions League history, as matches have never consistently been available in this many languages before for fans worldwide, and this is another major step towards increasing the potential fanbase and growing the competition overall.
DAZN’s new talent lineup includes such recognizable names as:
Pien Meulensteen (England): Seasoned sports broadcasting and women’s football pro currently working with Manchester United TV, Premier League Productions and BBC Radio.
Romain Balland (France): Long-established women’s football journalist and Eurosport women’s football presenter since 2014.
Sandra Riquelme (Spain): Former pro footballer and current commentator for Vamos on Movistar and presenter for dedicated women’s football channel El Patio on YouTube.
Pierluigi Pardo (Italy): Legendary broadcast vet universally considered “the” voice of football in Italy.
Verena Schweers (Germany): Former Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg star as well as German national team player.
Social – More Nonstop Football
Beyond broadcast, DAZN is also committed to keeping fans on the pulse of everything football with a steady stream of social content showcasing the breadth and depth of the women’s game:
On YouTube, fans can expect hundreds of pieces of non-live content annually, including nonstop highlights featuring all the players, clubs, and goals from the season. Additionally, an ever-growing library of content will include the new “We All Rise” series, Game of the Week clips, player interviews and profiles, team highlights and best-of goal reels, a new “This Is” series that will help fans get to know each team in the competition and much more to come.
On both Instagram and Twitter, @DAZNfootball will bring a global football audience the best narratives, highlights, clips, moments, and reactions around the beautiful game, covering the best of football – period – with both women’s and men’s football equally showcased on one single channel on both platforms.
Closing The Women’s Sports Gap – More Industry Action
Underlining the vision and mission behind the UEFA Women’s Champions League deal and partnership plans is a new global research report published today by DAZN and The Female Quotient. Titled “The Coverage Gap,” it includes new data across eight countries including the UK, U.S., France, and Spain that uncover key findings around the lack of regular women’s sports coverage (coverage defined here as broadcast, news, and social), how that translates for consumers into ongoing barriers to viewership, and why more visibility is critical to narrow and close the gap.
The full report can be viewed and downloaded HERE. Key findings include:
64% of consumers say they don’t watch women’s sports because they don’t know enough about the athletes and teams, don’t have as many opportunities to watch, or aren’t aware of where they can catch the games that are available.
There is a 30% gap between sports fans that watch men’s sports (93%) vs. those that watch women’s sports (only 63%).
Minimal promotion for events, broadcast disparities, and lack of steady media and social coverage and storytelling create a significant barrier to viewership.
To close the gap and further grow the sport, DAZN and partners UEFA and YouTube invite key industry stakeholders to join in committing to making it easier for fans to tune in and follow along consistently, by increasing the visibility and coverage of women’s football and women’s sport overall at the same breadth and depth as unfailingly seen in men’s sport.
Because more leads to more, and we all rise with more eyes.
With UEFA Women’s Champions League, it all begins tomorrow as the 16 top European contenders go head-to-head in pursuit of championship glory – live on DAZN and on YouTube. The full schedule is below (all times listed in CEST) and you can learn more about the entire competition HERE.
Matchday 1
Tuesday 5 October
- Hoffenheim vs HB Køge (18:45), Häcken vs Lyon (18:45)
- Barcelona vs Arsenal (21:00), Benfica vs Bayern München (21:00)
Wednesday 6 October
- Servette vs Juventus (18:45), WFC Kharkiv vs Real Madrid (18:45)
- Chelsea vs Wolfsburg (21:00), Breidablik vs Paris Saint-Germain (21:00)
Matchday 2
Wednesday 13 October
- Wolfsburg vs Servette (18:45), Paris Saint-Germain vs WFC Kharkiv (18:45)
- Juventus vs Chelsea (21:00), Real Madrid vs Breidablik (21:00)
Thursday 14 October
- HB Køge vs Barcelona (18:45), Bayern München vs Häcken (18:45)
- Arsenal vs Hoffenheim (21:00), Lyon vs Benfica (21:00)
Matchday 3
Tuesday 9 November
- Servette vs Chelsea (18:45), WFC Kharkiv vs Breidablik (18:45)
- Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Madrid (21:00), Juventus vs Wolfsburg (21:00)
Wednesday 10 November
- Barcelona vs Hoffenheim (18:45), HB Køge vs Arsenal (18:45)
- Benfica vs Häcken (21:00), Lyon vs Bayern München (21:00)
Matchday 4
Wednesday 17 November
- Hoffenheim vs Barcelona (18:45), Häcken vs Benfica (18:45)
- Bayern München vs Lyon (21:00), Arsenal vs HB Køge (21:00)
Thursday 18 November
- Wolfsburg vs Juventus (18:45), Breidablik vs WFC Kharkiv (18:45)
- Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain (21:00), Chelsea vs Servette (21:00)
Matchday 5
Wednesday 8 December
- Servette vs Wolfsburg (18:45), WFC Kharkiv vs Paris Saint-Germain (18:45)
- Chelsea vs Juventus (21:00), Breidablik vs Real Madrid (21:00)
Thursday 9 December
- HB Køge vs Hoffenheim (18:45), Häcken vs Bayern München (18:45)
- Arsenal vs Barcelona (21:00), Benfica vs Lyon (21:00)
Matchday 6
Wednesday 15 December
- Bayern München vs Benfica (18:45), Lyon vs Häcken (18:45)
- Barcelona vs HB Køge (21:00), Hoffenheim vs Arsenal (21:00)
Thursday 16 December
- Real Madrid vs WFC Kharkiv (18:45), Paris Saint-Germain vs Breidablik (18:45)
- Juventus vs Servette (21:00), Wolfsburg vs Chelsea (21:00)
Following the group stage, quarterfinals will take place in March, semifinals in April, and the final championship match in May.
