In paying $1 billion to stream the FIFA Club World Cup globally, DAZN is betting big on sports fans subscribing long after the tourney ends.
Unless you’re a big boxing fan in the U.S., chances are you’ve probably not heard of global sports streaming company DAZN (pronounced da-ZONE). But if you follow soccer in America or abroad, you’ll have to be acquainted with the service, which will be the global streaming provider for the first edition of the expanded 32-team FIFA Club World Cup kicking off Saturday night in Miami.
After FIFA reportedly had trouble selling rights initially, including a scuttled deal with Apple TV, DAZN swooped in with a $1 billion offer for the Club World Cup that led to an early December announcement. While not well known in the States, DAZN holds extensive international soccer rights, including the UEFA Champions League in several countries, such as Germany, Belgium, and Portugal, as well as the respective domestic rights for the German Bundesliga league, Italian Serie A, and France’s Ligue 1. In addition, if you’ve ever wanted to watch the NFL overseas, DAZN distributes NFL Game Pass International, allowing subscribers outside the US and China to watch football live and on demand.
“When you look at our global football footprint,” Walker Jacobs, DAZN’s Global Chief Revenue Officer and President of U.S., told Boardroom, “there are very few, if any, companies that have the worldwide purview as a pure sports play as us.”
DAZN plans to broadcast all 63 matches around the world in 15 different languages, while sublicensing premium games to networks in various global markets. In the U.S., TNT Sports will carry 24 matches on TNT, TBS, and TruTV in English, while 18 matches en español will live on TelevisaUnivision. DAZN will also utilize Warner Bros. Discovery‘s Bleacher Report and House of Highlights to amplify its coverage, with similar arrangements with media brands worldwide.
It’s all part of DAZN’s billion-dollar bet that introducing consumers to its product will boost long-term subscriber growth, making the rights deal well worth its while.
“What we’re most excited about is to welcome people to DAZN and get more people to use our service and be delighted by how great the service is, how reliable it is, and how well it works,” Jacobs continued. “We have a subscription service, and we believe that many people will stay and continue to enjoy using DAZN after they get welcomed into the service.”
In addition to traditional game broadcasts, DAZN plans to showcase its FanZone community second-screen experience, which includes live chats, polling, and contests featuring influencers and experts throughout the Club World Cup. It has a similar user experience to Twitch, according to Jacobs, who was Twitch’s chief revenue officer before he joined DAZN at the beginning of 2024. The tournament will also feature a referee cam, which Jacobs said FIFA has never before utilized in a competition.
To amplify its product on social media, DAZN will have a dedicated Club World Cup feed on X and a curated content hub on TikTok. It will also work closely with all 32 teams to promote the games on their social channels and by making their players available for various forms of content, both before and during the tournament. In addition to various studio shows and shoulder programming throughout the month-long event, DAZN also launched a creator program, where 100 of the top football creators from around the world will produce content promoting the tournament.
DAZN advertising will also feature in game venues, as well as on sublicensers around the world, such as TNT Sports, which promoted the Club World Cup throughout the French Open and during the ongoing Stanley Cup Final. DAZN will also partner with TNT Sports and TelevisaUnivision to sell advertising and sponsorship deals as well as share talent to produce and broadcast matches, halftime reports, and pre- and post-match shows. A deal with Sportradar announced Thursday will deliver exclusive betting data from the competition to betting and media clients, which include the world’s biggest sportsbooks both here and abroad.
“This is a comprehensive promotional plan we’ve been working on for months that’s leveraging the full breadth and depth of our partnerships and all the resources ourselves and our partners bring to bear,” Jacobs said.
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Part of DAZN’s overarching plans to make a lasting impact beyond the World Cup’s one-month duration is benefiting from the relationships the company will build by streaming in every country on the planet, operating with new sublicensers, and interacting with the brands that advertise on those platforms. While declining to disclose specifics, Jacobs said DAZN has spent a lot of time thinking about how many subscribers DAZN can add over the course of the Club World Cup while aiming to add to the streamer’s U.S. offerings.
While Jacobs is excited about the boxing matches DAZN will have during the second half of 2025, it’s already invested heavily in women’s soccer and on upcoming original projects, it’s excited to announce over the summer, in addition to daily podcasts and programming as well as social content via its subsidiary business Whistle Sports.
“We think, as more and more fans are exposed to the tournament, it’s going to build momentum for us,” Jacobs said. “We see this as a launchpad to extending our business into new areas in the U.S. marketplace.”
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