March 13 – Japanese satellite TV network Wowow has added UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) broadcast rights in Japan to the renewal of its UEFA men’s club competition rights through to the end of the 2030/31 season.
Wowow has held the men’s rights since the 2020/21 season, renewing rights to the Champions League, second-tier Europa League and third-tier Conference League, from the 2024-25 season in another three-season deal that has now been renewed early for another three year period. It also holds rights to exclusively air select fixtures from the UEFA Youth League.
The 2024-25 season was the first of the new expanded formats of the Champions League, Europa League and Conference league, with the competitions increasing in size from 32 teams to 36, with each side in the competition playing eight games as opposed to six, and the group stage format replaced by one single league table before the knockouts.
The broadcast rights for UWCL being with this season’s quarter-finals later this month, featuring Wolfsburg vs OL Lyonnes, Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona Femení, Manchester United vs Bayern München and reigning champions Arsenal vs Chelsea.
The final will be played at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, Norway, on Saturday 23 May 2026.
Like their male counterparts, Japanese women players have been making an increasing impact in European clubs. Japan’s women’s national team are currently at the quarter final stage of the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia and have yet to concede a goal.
Wowow has a strong portfolio of elite sports rights including rugby union’s Super Rugby Pacific competition, golf’s Ladies PGA Tour, basketball’s NBA, tennis’ ATP Tour, and a number of high-profile boxing cards.
The deal was announced by UC3, the joint venture between UEFA and European Football Clubs (EFC) that controls the marketing, sales and delivery of commercial rights for UEFA club competitions.
No value was given for the sale.
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