Club World Cup to be live on free-to-air TV as Channel 5 and DAZN strike deal

Chelsea and Manchester City fans may be able to watch their team compete in the FIFA Club World Cup on Channel 5 this summer after they struck a new deal with DAZN

Channel 5 will televise more than a third of the Club World Cup games in the UK this summer after reaching a sublicensing deal with DAZN. The agreement comes on the heels of DAZN’s move to acquire the rights for the lucrative tournament, which will take place in the United States.

Chelsea and Manchester City will represent the Premier League when the competition kicks off in early June. And it has now emerged that fans in the UK will be able to watch a host of games via the free-to-air broadcaster, including four last-16 ties, two quarter-finals, one semi-final and the showpiece final.

As revealed by The Guardian, Channel 5 will televise 23 of the 63 games alongside DAZN, who will be the exclusive broadcaster for the remaining 40. Channel 5 will take DAZN’s coverage, rather than use its own staff for the tournament.

As well as broadcasting a host of matches from the latter stages of the tournament, Channel 5 will also televise 15 group matches. DAZN paid around $1billion (£787m) to secure global rights for the competition back in February.

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It emerged last month that the winner of the competition could stand to bank a staggering $125m (£96.8m) in prize money, though all 32 clubs will be handsomely compensated for taking part.

A sum of $525m (£406.8) will be divided between the clubs, with the exact split determined by sporting and commercial criteria, meaning Chelsea and Manchester City would likely bank a larger slice of said pot than some of the other teams competing.

Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami are among the other teams participating. The tournament runs from 14 June to 13 July.

“We’re delighted to be able to have agreed this fantastic partnership with DAZN to expand free-to-air coverage of the Fifa Club World Cup, live on 5,” Paramount’s president of international ad sales, Lee Sears, told the Guardian after helping to broker the deal.

“It’s going to be one of the sporting events of the summer with most of the matches played in the evening peak time and 32 of the world’s biggest clubs involved.”

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