Eurosport has agreed a two-year deal to become the first official TV partner of the new UEFA Youth League.
The pan-European sports channel will screen one game from each matchweek during the competition, starting with Manchester United under-19’s home match against Bayer Leverkusen on September 17.
All live games during the first two seasons of UEFA’s new youth club football tournament, including the semi-finals and final, will be both produced and broadcast live by Eurosport across its network of channels, including British Eurosport.
As of the semi-finals however, UEFA Champions League rights-holders in the countries of the participating teams – such as ITV and BSkyB in the UK – will be given the opportunity to acquire live rights to these matches and simulcast them alongside Eurosport.
The broadcaster’s deal with UEFA comes after it agreed a four-year contract to screen selected matches from the rival NextGen Series in September 2012, which was won last season by Aston Villa.
However, NextGen organisers announced the suspension of the tournament for the 2013-14 season last month after encountering financial problems.
The new UEFA Youth League has been designed to mirror the format of the Champions League.
All 32 clubs that have qualified for the group stage of senior European football’s premier competition will participate in the continent’s new under-19 club tournament, which is designed to give young players international competition experience at club level.
The group stage will take place between September and December 2013, with fixtures being played around or on the same dates as the Champions League.
The eight group-winners and eight runners-up from the Youth League group stage will then participate in a knockout phase, played in single matches from February 2014 onwards, with the semi-finals and final contested in Nyon, Switzerland.
With games mainly taking place in the afternoon before the senior clubs’ UEFA Champions League fixtures, both visiting and home fans will be able to enjoy a bonus match ahead of the evening event – and they may also get to see future first-team regulars up close right at the start of their careers.
The players may be relatively unknown – for the time being – but the competition has already received its own sprinkling of star dust with many of the youth teams being coached by heroes of Champions League seasons gone by, including Patrick Vieira (Manchester City), Nicky Butt (Manchester United) and Filippo Inzaghi (AC Milan).
Eurosport Group CEO Jean-Thierry Augustin said: “We’ve extended our relationship with UEFA and are delighted to have been selected as Official Broadcaster of this new and prestigious tournament.
“The UEFA Youth League is a good addition to our youth football offer. Live coverage on our channels will broadcast these exciting matches into homes in 71 countries across Europe and Asia-Pacific.
“We believe UEFA’s youth league has great potential and could become the benchmark for European youth club football.”
UEFA’s Guy-Laurent Epstein said: “UEFA is delighted to announce Eurosport as the first rights holder of the 2013-15 UEFA Youth League.”
“UEFA is looking forward to working with Eurosport in order to build and promote this newly created competition.
“Eurosport’s wide reach and promotional and production expertise are key assets for the exposure of the competition and as a long-term partner of UEFA’s other youth competitions, Eurosport is a natural fit for the UEFA Youth League.“
The first match to be broadcast live on British Eurosport will be Manchester United v Bayer Leverkusen on September 17, kicking off at 4.00pm BST.
CLICK HERE for more information on the UEFA Youth League
