With a record-breaking World Cup drawing to a close on Sunday, Telemundo is announcing its next step in soccer broadcasting.
The NBCUniversal-owned network announced on Sunday that it has secured exclusive U.S. Spanish-language broadcast rights for all UEFA men’s club competitions, including Champions League, for three years beginning with the 2027-28 season. Currently, U.S. Spanish-language Champions League rights are owned by TelevisaUnivision, which sublicenses a package of games to DAZN. That deal will terminate following the upcoming season.
Beginning in 2027-28, all UEFA men’s club competitions will air across Telemundo, Universo, Peacock, and Telemundo’s sports-focused FAST channel. In addition to Champions League, this will include Europa League, Conference League, and Super Cup.
The deal highlights Telemundo’s emphasis on Spanish-language soccer rights following the success of this summer’s World Cup, which set any number of viewership records for the network. Just last week, Telemundo struck a deal for Bundesliga media rights, and the network already has deals in place for Premier League, top Liga MX clubs, and U.S. Men’s and Women’s National teams.
The three-year agreement with Telemundo will align UEFA’s U.S.-based media rights deals. Paramount, the current English-language rightsholder for UEFA Champions League and other UEFA-sponsored competitions, has a deal which lasts through the 2029-30 season. With both deals set to expire at the same time, UEFA could conceivably bundle English-language and Spanish-language rights the next time it goes to market in the United States.
Telemundo’s deal could create some added competition for Paramount. During this summer’s World Cup, a reported 20 percent of Telemundo viewers speak English as their “primary” language, but have opted to watch the tournament in Spanish anyway. With these matches set to stream on Peacock, Spanish-language Champions League broadcasts will now be hosted on a much more prominent platform for English speakers.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.