Abandoned by Canal+, the rights of the Saudi championship have been obtained by a content creator who wants to offer an alternative to the current model.
The streamer Zack Nani, content creator mainly present on the Twitch platform, announced on Friday that it has obtained the diffusion rights of the Saudi Pro League, the Saudi Arabian football championship.
“This project reflects a strong desire to offer an alternative to classic diffusion models”said the streamer, quoted in a press release. Up to three matches will be broadcast for free every week on its Twitch and Youtube channels, from August 19.
Pass advertising
Canal+ does not renew its contract
The Saudi Pro League, whose rights had been bought by Canal+ from 2023, had no broadcaster in France, the Sports Director of the encrypted chain, Thomas Sénécal, having announced in July not having renewed the contract.
With more than 800,000 subscribers on Youtube and 600,000 on Twitch, Zack Nani broadcasts entertainment videos, interviews and content related to football.
In 2023, he had notably won a tête-à -tête with Karim Benzema, fresh golden ball, a video that has since accumulated 2.6 million views on YouTube.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia, which will host the World Cup in 2034, has spent colossal sums to attract stars to Saudi Pro League. The former French striker of Real Madrid, Karim Benzema, is about to start his third season in the club of Al-Ittihad, while his former teammate, the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, renewed his contract with the club of Al-Nassr.
Other French players have been added to the list of Saudi recruits, such as Moussa Dembélé, Moussa Diaby and N’Golo Kanté and, this summer, Théo Hernandez.
