BeIN Sports continue as Serie A broadcast partners

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Round 1 of Italy’s Serie A kicked off with beIN Sports Australia showcasing the opening round, and will continue to do so for the rest of the 2021/22 season and beyond.

A last-minute agreement on the eve of the campaign saw matches broadcast as per normal last weekend. An extension to the media rights agreement will ensure that beIN Sports remain as the exclusive home of Italian football in Australia until 2024.

Established in 2012, beIN Sports is a global network of sports channels owned and operated by the Qatari media group beIN.

Serie A fans will relish the opportunity to watch one of the most successful and most-watched leagues in the world live and exclusively on beIN Sports. In addition, the return of greater crowds in stadiums across Italy will make for an even greater viewing experience for Australian-based fans.

The deal will see the likes of European giants Juventus, Roma, Lazio, Internazionale, AC Milan, Napoli and recent high-flyers Atalanta battling it out each week to reach the summit of Italian football.

Serie A has attracted some of the world’s top talent over the past seasons, with marquee signings like Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala, Ciro Immobile, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez all on display in recent seasons.

The continuation of Serie A’s agreement reaffirms beIN Sports as the home of the top four European leagues in Australia.

beIN SPORTS’ football rights portfolio in Australia includes LaLiga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, EFL, SPFL, and the Carabao Cup – alongside international tennis and rugby tournaments.

beIN SPORTS is available in Australia via the Kayo, Foxtel, Fetch and beIN SPORTS CONNECT platforms.

Mike Kerr, Managing Director of beIN Asia-Pacific, was delighted to have secured Serie A for a further three seasons from 2021/22.

“With the extension of Serie A’s rights in Australia, we are proud to be the trusted broadcast partner for Italy’s top flight across the Asia-Pacific region. Serie A complements our incredible portfolio of European football in one of our most valuable markets, Australia,” he said.

“We are pleased that fans can continue watching the best Italian clubs and talent on beIN SPORTS. As the leading pan-regional sports broadcaster in the region, we aim to work alongside our affiliate partners to grow audiences and provide a compelling sports experience across all screens.”

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Project ACL: The initiative leading the way on injury research

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Image credit: FiledIMAGE / Shutterstock.com

Launched in 2024, the research project recently welcomed two US-based organisations: the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

 

About Project ACL

Led by FIFPRO, PFA England, Nike and Leeds Beckett University, Project ACL aims to research ACL injuries and understand more about multifactorial risk factors.

After piloting in England’s Women’s Super League (WSL), Project ACL will expand to the NWSL in the US, reflecting the global importance of the project’s research and outcome.

“We are incredibly excited to bring the NWSLPA and NWSL to Project ACL,” said Director of Women’s Football at FIFPRO, Dr. Alex Culvin, via official press release.

“Overall, we believe that player-centricity and collaboration with key stakeholders are central to establishing meaningful change in the soccer ecosystem and that players, competition organisers and stakeholdersaround the world will benefit from Project ACL’s outputs and outcomes.”

Interviews with over 30 players and team surveys across all 12 WSL clubs provided the project’s research team with valuable information about current prevention strategies and available resources.

Furthermore, the project tracks player workload and busy schedule periods during the season through the FIFPRO Player Workload Monitoring tool, therefore gaining insights into the link between scheduling and injury risks.

 

Looking to the data

Project ACL’s partnerships with the WSL – and now the NWSL – are immensely valuable for the future of player welfare in women’s football.

Although ACL injuries affect both male and female athletes, they are twice as likely to occur in women than men. However, according to the NWSL, as little as 8% of sports science research focuses on female athletes.

In Australia, several CommBank Matildas suffered ACL injuries in recent years: Sam Kerr was sidelined from January 2024 to September 2025, Ellie Carpenter for 8 months after suffering the injury while playing for Olympique Lyonnais, and Holly McNamara came back from three ACL’s aged 15, 18 and 20.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The 2025/26 ALW season saw several ACL incidents, including four in just two weeks.

 

Research, prevent, protect

Injury prevention and research are vital to sport – whether professional or amateur.

But when the numbers are so shocking – and incidents are so common – governing bodies must remember that player welfare comes above all else. Research can inform prevention strategies. Prevention means players can enjoy the game they love.

The work of Project ACL, continuing until 2027, will hopefully protect countless players across women’s football from suffering long-term or recurring injuries.

South Canberra FC Breaks the Mold: Equity-Driven Model Earns ‘Club Changer’ Honour

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Image Credit: SCFC

South Canberra Football Club has been named Club Changer of the Month for April, in a recognition that reflects a broader shift across Australian football toward rewarding clubs that are actively dismantling the structural barriers limiting women’s access to the game.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup has just delivered record crowds and unprecedented visibility for women’s football in Australia, and the Club Changer program is now asking what comes next. Its decision to name South Canberra Football Club as Club Changer of the Month for April signals a clear shift in how the program defines contribution: away from participation numbers alone, and toward the equity frameworks that determine whether women stay in the game once they arrive.

South Canberra FC built that framework from the ground up. Established in 2021, the club set out to give women and female-identifying players a safe, inclusive environment to play football at any level. It runs entirely on volunteers, operates as a not-for-profit, and is governed by an all-female committee with 13 of its 14 coaches identifying as female.

 

Building the infrastructure of inclusion

In 2026, the club secured grant funding and put it to work immediately. Two coaches are completing their C Licence qualification, and ten coaches, players and community members have undertaken the Foundations of Football course, which directly tackles the cost and accessibility barriers that exclude women out of coaching pathways.

The club also commissioned a female-specific strength and conditioning program with sports physiotherapists ahead of the 2026 season, targeting injury prevention and explicitly supporting players returning after childbirth.

SCFC’s leadership team draws from LGBTIQ+ individuals, First Nations people and veterans, strengthening the club’s connection to the communities it was built to represent.

The Club Changer program is backing clubs that do this work- clubs that treat equity as infrastructure rather than aspiration. At a moment when Australian football is under pressure to turn its biggest-ever surge of women’s interest into something lasting, SCFC’s model offers a clear answer to the question of how.

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