The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Thursday announced ESPN as their new media partner in Latin America, Central America and non-exclusively in the Caribbean to broadcast AFC competitions for the 2021 to 2024 rights cycle.
The agreement includes all major AFC national team and club competitions, including but not limited to the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar™, the AFC Asian Cup China 2023™, as well as the AFC Champions League™ and AFC Cup™ from the 2021 season, the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2022™, AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Paris 2024, among many others.
ESPN’s pan-regional Latin America network was launched in 1989 and broadcasts high-definition content in Spanish, Portuguese and English to audiences in more than 15 countries. ESPN and its impressive portfolio of rights covering all major soccer leagues, rugby, tennis, cricket, golf events to MLB, NFL and the NBA is accessible for over 39.5 million homes across the various territories.
Moreover, ESPN is also present on Star+, The Walt Disney Company Latin America’s streaming service for general entertainment and sports content, including live sports events and ESPN’s regional original productions.
Dato’ Windsor John, the AFC General Secretary, said: “The AFC’s competitions have grown into some of the finest in world football and this partnership with ESPN exemplifies the stature, prestige and worldwide appeal of our world-class competitions all across the globe.”
“We are happy to have this agreement with ESPN to enhance the consumption and reach of our competitions in the football-loving Latin America and Central America regions and we are grateful to ESPN for their confidence in the AFC and in the future of the Asian game,” he added.
Patrick Murphy, Board Member and CEO at Football Marketing Asia said: “We are delighted to welcome ESPN as our valued media partner exclusively in Latin America and Central America, as well as non-exclusively in the Caribbean.”
“ESPN is one of the biggest broadcasters in the whole of LATAM and Central American regions, hence we are looking forward to the extensive coverage ESPN will provide and we are excited to start working closely with ESPN’s teams to bring the best of Asian national team and club football to fans and audiences in these territories,” he added.