LONDON: Social media giant Facebook has struck another successful football broadcasting deal as the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has awarded it the rights for the region’s premier club tournament, Copa Libertadores.
China’s Xinhua reports that Facebook will be showcasing 46 games annually on social media on a free-to-air basis from 2019 to 2022 in nine countries namely Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. 27 of these games will be aired exclusively on Facebook Watch on Thursday nights. The remaining ones will be broadcast by pay-TV rights holders Fox Sports on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. While the final will be streamed on Facebook in all CONMEBOL member countries except Brazil.
“We are very happy to add Facebook, the social network with the greatest reach in South America and the world, as one of our partners for the transmission of our prestigious Copa Libertadores,” CONMEBOL club commercial director Juan Emilio Roa was quoted as saying to the Chinese news agency.
“This alliance with Facebook is another step in our effort to bring football to the last corner of South America.”
“We want to bring this experience to the widest possible audience, allowing fans to get together to watch live games easily, and we hope that this partnership with CONMEBOL will help reinvent the experience of watching football.” Facebook’s global vice president of sports Dan Reed said.
The development comes less than two months after Facebook had also bagged the UEFA Champions League matches in Spanish-speaking countries of South America from 2018 to 2021. Around the same time, it had also bagged the rights for the first time ever to broadcast the La Liga in India in partnership with Sony Pictures Networks.
