OneSoccer has acquired exclusive rights in Canada to Manchester City TV, the Premier League club’s premium TV programming; the Eredivisie, the top-tier men’s professional soccer league of the Netherlands; and the Chinese Super League, China’s first division men’s soccer league, as a first step in expanding the broadcaster’s portfolio of international leagues and tournaments.
Fans across Canada will be able to watch the matches through the OneSoccer app and website via connected devices; while subscribers to TELUS Optik TV have access to OneSoccer as a linear channel in the More Sports bundle. Additionally, streaming service Fubo.TV Canada carries OneSoccer alongside a range of other premium sports offerings, including Premier League and Serie A channels.
OneSoccer will carry Manchester City TV’s International Programming Block (IPB), comprising a full replay of every Man City match in the Premier League, the FA Cup and the League Cup as well as preview and post-match shows, the weekly Inside City magazine-style review show and more.
Manchester City, the 2021-22 Premier League champion, is one of the most successful English football clubs in recent years. Presently ranked first in the Uefa club coefficients for 2022-23, ahead of Bayern Munich and Liverpool, the club has won the Premier League title three times in the past four seasons and in 2019 became the first English men’s club to win the domestic treble of league, cup and league cup titles.
City is currently second in the Premier League on 23 points with seven wins from 10 matches, four points behind Arsenal after falling 1-0 to Liverpool yesterday. The club is riding high on the impressive play of its young Norwegian star Erling Haaland, who leads the Golden Boot race with 15 goals, ahead of Tottenham’s Harry Kane on nine.
Coverage of the Eredivisie, the first division men’s league in the Netherlands, will see three live matches aired per round – each involving one of the Dutch ‘big three’ clubs: Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven. The Eredivisie is one of Europe’s top professional soccer leagues and the ‘big three’ are all household names among fans of European soccer. Ajax, currently first in the standings on 25 points, ahead of PSV on 24 and Feyenoord on 23, is one of the most successful European clubs both in the Netherlands and in Europe, with 36 Eredivisie titles and 20 KNVB Cups to their name, along with four European Cup/Uefa Champions League titles, a Dutch record.
The acquisition of Eredivisie rights by OneSoccer marks the first time that the Dutch league has received regular broadcast coverage on a Canadian channel, and the news will delight fans of the Dutch game and the more than 1.1 million Canadians of Dutch descent.
Live broadcasts of the Chinese Super League will start later this month at just past the half-way point of the 2022 season, which is back at full steam after Covid lockdowns delayed the start. The Chinese Super League is one of the stronger Asian tournaments: it is consistently ranked among the top-10 leagues in the region, and it plays host to a range of globally-known stars, including Oscar (Brazil, Shanghai Port), Matías Vargas (Argentina, Shanghai Port) and Marouane Fellaini (Belgium, Shandong Taishan).
Current CSL leader is Wuhan Three Towns, managed by Spanish coach Pedro Morilla. Wuhan have risen precipitously through the Chinese league system in just three seasons, earning promotion from the third tier to China League One in 2021 and finishing top of the table in December of that year to move up to the CSL. After 20 rounds, Wuhan is three points clear of Shandong Luneng and fully 10 ahead of Shanghai Shenhua in third. OneSoccer last aired the Chinese Super League in 2020; the CSL’s return to OneSoccer’s schedules will be a welcome addition to soccer fans across the country, particularly the 1.8 million Canadians of Chinese origin.
Alba Campabadal, Vice President of OneSoccer, said: “We are delighted to be able to complement our full roster of Canadian and Concacaf soccer leagues and tournaments with exciting new content from both Europe and Asia. The Canadian soccer fan base is broad and knowledgeable and we’re looking forward to announcing more premium content in the coming days.”
