Premier Sports to show French TOP 14 rugby union

Premier Sports has announced that it has picked up the rights to broadcast French rugby union’s top flight competiton – TOP 14.

The new two-year agreement covers the entire 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons, with the pick of four live games each and a weekly highlights show, plus live coverage of the finale to the current 2020/21 season.

TOP 14 rugby union will be shown across the Premier Sports network – Premier Sports 1 and 2 and its free-to-air sister channel FreeSports, which will broadcast the play-off series, the semi-finals and the final on free-to-air this season.

Renowned throughout the world as one of the most intense club rugby competitions, showcasing some of the world’s best players, the TOP 14 has been without a UK broadcast deal since Sky Sports ended its coverage of the competition at the end of the 2018/19 season.

Rugby union fans across the UK will now be able to tune-in weekly to watch France’s top club teams, including European champions Toulouse, La Rochelle, Racing 92 and Clermont Auvergne, among others, battle it out for the coveted TOP 14 title and to lift the Brennus Shield.

Premier Sports coverage of the TOP 14 gets underway, with immediate effect, over the weekend of 28-29 May and includes the final two rounds of the regular season, plus the play-off series between the top 6 clubs which leads up to semi-finals on 18-19 June and the Final on 25 June.

Live coverage of France’s TOP 14 will compliment Premier Sports’ existing coverage of the Guinness PRO14, including the ongoing PRO14 Rainbow Cup, which features South Africa’s four super teams – Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions.

Premier Sports’ existing three-year deal with the PRO14 expires at the end of the current season. The pay-TV broadcaster is expected to continue covering the competition next season, but a new TV deal for the next rights cycle has yet to be confirmed.

Commenting on the rights deal, Richard Sweeney, Premier Sports chief executive, said:

“Premier Sports is absolutely delighted to bring even more world-class live rugby to its channels for sports fans by securing rights to Europe’s renowned TOP 14 competition.

“TOP 14 is home to many of the world’s greatest rugby players and is supported by 14 of France’s most successful clubs with strong identities and passionate fans. The competition has a great heritage, brings intensity and drama in every round and has a respected track record of attracting interest from rugby fans around the world.

“Rugby continues to be a big priority for Premier Sports and we are committed to bring our customers the very best rugby action featuring the world rugby’s brightest stars every week live.”

Rene Bouscatel, president of the LNR, added:

“The TOP 14 is the most attractive rugby league in the world, and we look forward to strengthening our links with two lands of rugby: the UK and Ireland. We are delighted that the British and Irish public, who know the game well, will be able to follow the exploits of the world’s best players every weekend until 2023, thanks to Premier Sports.”

Details of the live TOP 14 matches to be broadcast on Premier Sports and FreeSports over the weekend of 28-30 May can be found below.

For a full list of all forthcoming major rugby union matches on the box, visit SOTB’s dedicated rugby union on TV listings page.

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FRIDAY 28th MAY

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SATURDAY 29th MAY

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