Gazprom-Media has extended its contract with UEFA to show European tournaments on Russia’s territory for another three years. In this way, football fans will be able to continue following the matches of Russian clubs on the European arena on the Match family of channels. The agreement gives Match the rights not only to broadcast Champions League and Europa League matches, but also those of the Conference League, a new UEFA tournament scheduled to kick off in the 2021-22 season. The UEFA Youth League will remain a part of the three-year rights package.
Gazprom-Media is one of UEFA’s long-standing partners. Viewers of various Match channels can watch all the matches that feature Russian clubs for free. According to Mediascope, the Champions League was the most popular sports competition on the air of Match TV in 2019 (among a target audience of males aged 14-59), with an average viewership share of 10.2%. European tournaments also get a maximum level of coverage on Match’s special-interest channels.
Alexander Zharov, CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding, said: