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IMG signs 5-year deal to become broadcast producer of Saudi football events

IMG signs 5-year deal to become broadcast producer of Saudi football events
The Saudi Pro League and Saudi Arabian Football Federation have agreed a new five-year production-partnership deal with global sports, events and representation company IMG. (X/ @AlNassrFC File)
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Updated 13 August 2024
Arab News
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IMG signs 5-year deal to become broadcast producer of Saudi football events

IMG signs 5-year deal to become broadcast producer of Saudi football events
  • The partnership with the Saudi Pro League and Saudi Arabian Football Federation will start next season and cover Roshn Saudi League, Saudi Super Cup and King Cup matches
  • ‘The SPL is poised to deliver an unparalleled football-viewing experience to fans around the world through technology, innovation and talent,’ says SPL CEO Omar Mugharbel
Updated 13 August 2024
Arab News
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RIYADH: The Saudi Pro League and Saudi Arabian Football Federation have agreed a new five-year production-partnership deal with global sports, events and representation company IMG.
Beginning next season IMG will take the role of broadcast producer for the Roshn Saudi League, King Cup and Saudi Super Cup, with the aim of providing best-in-class production quality, innovation and consistency across the events.
The organizations said on Wednesday said that broadcasts in coming seasons will feature more dynamic storytelling and captivating content highlighting the excitement of the matches and celebrating the culture and passion that drive the sport.
This will enable partners to provide deeper insights and elevate the levels of engagement and entertainment, they added, to enhance the viewing experience for fans around the world and foster a deeper connection with the league.
SPL CEO Omar Mugharbel said the agreement represents a significant step forward for the league as its transformation and growth continues on and off the pitch.
“Our collaboration with IMG reflects our commitment to bringing world-class production standards to Saudi football, with the league the central host producer,” he added.
“By leveraging the expertise of IMG and maintaining strong partnerships with local and regional distributors, the SPL is poised to deliver an unparalleled football-viewing experience to fans around the world through technology, innovation and talent.”
Barney Francis, IMG’s executive vice president of studios, said: “The Saudi Pro League is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing leagues in global football, with fans around the world now tuning in to watch thrilling action between some of the game’s biggest stars.
“In today’s battle for attention, it’s critical for rights holders to take control of their narrative and innovate. We are excited to help SPL take its content offering and storytelling to the next level for viewers and broadcasters, and to provide opportunities for local broadcast and production talent to be part of the journey.”
The organizations said IMG will help the SPL and SAFF implement advanced remote-production technologies so that producers can oversee matches taking place in several cities on the same day and ensure the highest production standards are maintained regardless of location.
IMG produces content for some of the world’s biggest football leagues and other sporting events, including the English Premier League, Major League Soccer for Apple TV, CBS coverage of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and golf events including The Open, Ryder Cup and the DP World Tour.

Topics: Roshn Saudi League (RSL) Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) IMG SPL

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Newcastle deepen Ipswich woes with thumping win at Portman Road

Newcastle deepen Ipswich woes with thumping win at Portman Road
Updated 39 sec ago
AFP
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Newcastle deepen Ipswich woes with thumping win at Portman Road

Newcastle deepen Ipswich woes with thumping win at Portman Road
  • Isak volleyed Eddie Howe’s team ahead in the first minute
Updated 39 sec ago
AFP

IPSWICH: Newcastle deepened Ipswich’s plight and lifted themselves to seventh in the table with a 4-0 win at Portman Road.

Isak volleyed Eddie Howe’s team ahead in the first minute and Jacob Murphy doubled their lead before Isak side-footed in from close range just before the break.

The Sweden international scored his third nine minutes into the second half, poking the ball home after more fine work from Murphy.

It was a ninth defeat in 17 games for Ipswich since they returned to the Premier League and they remain in the relegation zone, two points from safety.

Topics: football soccer England Premier league Newcastle United Ipswich Town

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Aston Villa beat Manchester City to deepen Guardiola’s pain

Aston Villa beat Manchester City to deepen Guardiola’s pain
Updated 21 December 2024
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Aston Villa beat Manchester City to deepen Guardiola’s pain

Aston Villa beat Manchester City to deepen Guardiola’s pain
  • City manager in the worst run of his glittering career said Friday “sooner or later” things will turn around
Updated 21 December 2024
AFP

BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa beat crisis-hit Manchester City 2-1 on Saturday to heap more misery on floundering manager Pep Guardiola, who has now suffered nine defeats in his past 12 matches.
Jhon Duran finished off a fine team move to give the home side an early lead and Morgan Rogers doubled Villa’s advantage in the 65th minute.
Phil Foden scored his first Premier League goal of the season in stoppage time but it proved to be too little too late.
Pep Guardiola, in the worst run of his glittering career, said Friday that “sooner or later” things will turn around but City’s fear factor has vanished.
The win lifts Unai Emery’s inconsistent Villa team to fifth in the Premier League table, one place above sinking City.
Guardiola made six changes to the team side that lost last week’s Manchester derby, bringing in goalkeeper Stefan Ortega and reshaping his defense with Rico Lewis, John Stones and Manuel Akanji.
Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish also returned.
But the defending champions started the match in chaotic fashion and could have been behind inside 20 seconds.
Untidy work from Josko Gvardiol allowed John McGinn to steal the ball and he fed Duran, whose shot from outside the box was pushed behind by Ortega.
Villa were millimeters away from taking the lead from the resulting corner, with Ortega, in for first-choice goalkeeper Ederson, producing a superb save to deny Pau Torres.
City then settled and their possession numbers topped 75 percent but they created little.
Instead it was Villa who took the lead through Duran after a superb team move, scoring his seventh Premier League goal of the season.
Youri Tielemans delivered a wonderful defense-splitting pass to Rogers, who burst through City’s backline with ease before finding Duran on his right and the Colombian international finished crisply.
Phil Foden tested Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the 35th minute after an incisive move involving Lewis.
And Gvardiol squandered a glorious chance moments before half-time, heading over a Grealish cross.
Guardiola brought on Kyle Walker for Stones at the break.
Minutes into the second half Villa’s Matty Cash lashed an attempt into the side netting after a speedy attack before Duran had a strike ruled out for offside.
Rogers hit the foot of the post just before the hour mark after an intricate team move down the left.
Emery’s men doubled their lead 20 minutes into the second half, with Rogers finishing unerringly from a McGinn pass.
City created little as they searched for a way back into the game until Foden pounced for a late consolation goal.

Topics: football soccer England Premier league Aston Villa Manchester city

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Green Falcons arrive in Kuwait for 26th Arabian Gulf Cup

Green Falcons arrive in Kuwait for 26th Arabian Gulf Cup
Updated 21 December 2024
Arab News
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Green Falcons arrive in Kuwait for 26th Arabian Gulf Cup

Green Falcons arrive in Kuwait for 26th Arabian Gulf Cup
Updated 21 December 2024
Arab News

RIYADH: The Saudi national football team arrived in Kuwait on Friday ahead of the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup to take place from Dec. 21 until Jan. 3 next year.

Upon arrival at Kuwait International Airport, the team was welcomed by Deputy Saudi Ambassador to Kuwait Yahya Al-Qahtani and several other officials, state news agency SPA reported.

The Green Falcons are scheduled to conduct an evening training session on Saturday at the Yarmouk Club Stadium, with the first 15 minutes opened for members of the media.

Topics: football Arabian Gulf Cup

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Netflix signs US broadcast deal with FIFA for the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031

Netflix signs US broadcast deal with FIFA for the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031
Updated 21 December 2024
AP
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Netflix signs US broadcast deal with FIFA for the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031

Netflix signs US broadcast deal with FIFA for the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031
  • The deal announced Friday is the most significant FIFA has signed with a streaming service for a major tournament
  • Netflix dipped into live sports last month with more than 60 million households watching a heavily hyped boxing match between retired heavyweight legend Mike Tyson and social media personality Jake Paul
Updated 21 December 2024
AP

GENEVA: Netflix has secured the US broadcasting rights to the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031 as the streaming giant continues its push into live sports.

The deal announced Friday is the most significant FIFA has signed with a streaming service for a major tournament. The value was not given, though international competitions in women’s soccer have struggled to draw high-value offers.

“Bringing this iconic tournament to Netflix isn’t just about streaming matches,” its chief content officer Bela Bajaria said in a statement. “It’s also about celebrating the players, the culture and the passion driving the global rise of women’s sport.”

Netflix dipped into live sports last month with more than 60 million households watching a heavily hyped boxing match between retired heavyweight legend Mike Tyson and social media personality Jake Paul. Some viewers reported streaming problems, however.

Netflix also will broadcast two NFL games on Christmas Day: the Kansas City Chiefs at the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens at the Houston Texans. That’s part of a three-year deal announced in May.

World Cups are typically broadcast on free-to-air public networks to reach the biggest audiences, and the last women’s edition in 2023 earned FIFA less than 10 percent of the men’s 2022 World Cup.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino had publicly criticized public broadcasters, especially in Europe, for undervaluing offers to broadcast the 2023 tournament that was played in Australia and New Zealand. That tournament was broadcast by Fox in the US

“This agreement sends a strong message about the real value of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the global women’s game,” Infantino said.

The World Cup rights mark another major step in Netflix’s push into live programming. It’s recipe that Netflix has cooked up to help sell more advertising, a top priority for the company since it introduced a low-priced version of its streaming service that includes commercials two years ago. The ad-supported version is now the fastest growing part of Netflix’s service, although most of its 283 million worldwide subscribers still pay for higher-priced options without commercial.

But Netflix is still trying to sell more ads to boost its revenue, which is expected to be about $30 billion. Netflix executives have predicted it might take two or three years before its ad sales become a major part of its revenue.

Netflix expects to spend about $17 billion on programming this year — a budget that the Los Gatos, California, company once funneled almost entirely into scripted TV series and movies. But Netflix is now allocating a significant chunk of that money to sports and live events, a shift that has made it a formidable competitor to traditional media bidding for the same rights.

FIFA will likely use the Netflix deal to drive talks with European broadcasters that likely will be hardball negotiations.

Soccer finance expert Kieran Maguire, a co-host of The Price of Football podcast, suggested the deal was “a bit of a gamble” for FIFA and “saber-rattling” by Infantino.

“(Netflix) get experience of football broadcasting, FIFA can say, ‘we are now partnering with a blue chip organization, so watch out you nasty Europeans,’” Maguire, an academic at the University of Liverpool, said in a telephone interview.

FIFA and Infantino also want to raise the price of broadcast deals to help fund increased prize money and close the gender pay gap on the men’s World Cup.

At the men’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the 32 team federations shared $440 million in prize money. For the women’s 2023 tournament, FIFA had a $152 million total fund for prize money, contributions to teams’ preparation costs and payments to players’ clubs.

In FIFA’s financial accounts for 2023, the soccer body reported total broadcasting revenue of $244 million. In the year of the men’s 2022 World Cup it was almost $2.9 billion.

The next Women’s World Cup will be a 32-team, 64-game tournament in 2027, played in Brazil from June 24-July 25. The US originally bid jointly with Mexico.

The 2031 host has not been decided, though the US likely will bid for a tournament which FIFA is expected to try to expand to 48 teams. That would match the size of the 104-game format of the men’s World Cup that debuts in 2026 in the US, Canada and Mexico.

Spain won the 2023 Women’s World Cup after the US won the two previous titles — in France in 2019 and Canada in 2015.

More than 25 million viewers in the US watched the 2015 World Cup final, a 5-2 win over Japan, played in Vancouver, Canada, in a time zone similarly favorable to Brazil.

FIFA tried to sign Apple+ to an exclusive global deal to broadcast the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup which is being played in 11 US cities next June and July.

Broadcast networks showed little interest in the FIFA club event that will now be broadcast for free on streaming service DAZN, which is building closer business ties to Saudi Arabia.

Ahead of the next Women’s World Cup, Netflix will “produce exclusive documentary series in the lead-up to both tournaments, spotlighting the world’s top players, their journeys and the global growth of women’s football,” FIFA said.

Topics: Women’s World Cup Netflix FIFA

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Bayern Munich rout Leipzig on somber night in Germany

Bayern Munich rout Leipzig on somber night in Germany
Updated 21 December 2024
AFP
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Bayern Munich rout Leipzig on somber night in Germany

Bayern Munich rout Leipzig on somber night in Germany
  • Ayern are now seven points clear of second place Bayer Leverkusen, who have the chance to close the gap back to four points when they host Freiburg in Saturday’s late game
  • The small ceremony that the Munich club traditionally offers its supporters before Christmas was cut short, reduced to a rendition of “Stille Nacht” (“Silent Night“), due to the events in Magdeburg
Updated 21 December 2024
AFP

BERLIN: Bayern Munich swept RB Leipzig aside 5-1 on Friday to extend their lead at the top of the Bundesliga on a somber night in Germany following a deadly car attack at a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg.

Bayern are now seven points clear of second place Bayer Leverkusen, who have the chance to close the gap back to four points when they host Freiburg in Saturday’s late game.

However, there was little mood for celebration after at least two people were killed and more than 60 injured when a vehicle barrelled through a crowd of revellers in Magdeburg at high speed, leaving a trail of bloody carnage.

“It’s almost impossible to talk about football, the people of Magdeburg are in our thoughts tonight,” said Bayern coach Vincent Kompany in a press conference reduced to a short statement.

“We won tonight, but I wish victories for peace next year.”

The small ceremony that the Munich club traditionally offers its supporters before Christmas was cut short, reduced to a rendition of “Stille Nacht” (“Silent Night“), due to the events in Magdeburg.

A minute’s silence was also observed in the Allianz Arena.

On the pitch, Jamal Musiala scored after just 30 seconds for Bayern.

Musiala steered the ball in from close range from Michael Olize’s cross after a sublime flick by Harry Kane, returning from an injury lay-off, had opened the door for Olize.

But Bayern’s lead lasted barely a minute. Lois Openda’s stepover left Kim Min-jae in his wake and the Belgian sent a perfect low cross for Benjamin Sesko to score with a first-time finish.

Both teams took a breather after an intense opening, but it wasn’t long before Bayern were back in front.

Konrad Laimer exchanged passed with the dangerous Olize, and the Austrian volleyed expertly past Peter Gulacsi in the Leipzig goal.

Bayern added a third courtesy of a Joshua Kimmich piledriver in the 36th minute. The midfielder, captaining the side in the absence of the injured Manuel Neuer, found some space 25 yards out and let fly with an unstoppable drive.

Leipzig, who have won twice their last three visits to the Allianz Arena, steadied the ship a little after the break but Bayern were in no mood to compromise and continued to produce some of their best football of the season.

They extended their lead in the 75th minute through Leroy Sane, who just managed to stay on side as he collected Alphonso Davies’ through pass, rolling the ball into the bottom corner.

Bayern were hungry for more though. Kimmich, a thorn in Leipzig’s side all night, found space on the right and whipped a cross in for Davies, who connected to score a rare headed goal and bring up Bayern’s fifth of the night.

Kane joined Kompany in offering his sympathy to the victims of the Magdeburg attack.

“Sometimes, there is a bigger picture than football. All the team and FC Bayern presents its condoleances to anyone who is affected by this,” said the England star.

Topics: Bayern Munich Germany

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