DAZN and YouTube come together to stream Women’s Champions League

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Sports streaming platform DAZN have announced a new four-year global broadcasting partnership with YouTube which will see the UEFA Women’s Champions League taken to new heights from season 2021/22.

In a unique first for the competition, the deal will greatly increase exposure to women’s football as the UEFA Women’s Champions League introduces an inaugural 16-team group stage. For supporters, this will ensure unprecedented access to one of the fastest-growing football competitions around the world.

During the first two seasons (2021/22 and 2022/23), fans will be able to watch all 61 matches live and on demand from the group stage onward. This will be shown on DAZN, and free on their YouTube channel. For the following two seasons (2023/24 and 2024/25), all 61 matches will be shown live on DAZN, while 19 matches will be free to view on the YouTube channel.

The multi-year deal grants DAZN exclusive rights worldwide, with the exception of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) – where rights include clips and highlights – as well as China.

The agreement signifies another game-changing move in UEFA’s and its partners’ global commitment to women’s sport. It is one of the largest broadcast deals in women’s club football history.

“Two years ago, when we launched UEFA’s first ever women’s football strategy, ‘Time for Action’, we promised action that will lead to a greater, more professional and more prosperous game by 2024. Several initiatives have since followed and this summer is a giant leap in that direction,” UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin said.

“We are delighted to announce the start of a four-year global partnership with DAZN and YouTube. For the first two seasons, fans around the world can access and watch for free all matches, enabling fans to follow the competition and the very best players in the world. There is no better way to inspire future generations of young girls and boys to play football. Women’s football is here to stay and will only grow stronger.”

The partnership follows UEFA’s decision to create a new format for the Women’s Champions League, with the new group stage accompanied by centralised media and sponsorship rights, which will lead to a significant increase of revenues. This has built the foundation for the recently announced pioneering financial distribution model, where $38.7m will be spread throughout women’s football in Europe.

“This deal is a first for women’s football as this partnership between UEFA and DAZN and YouTube will make sure that the UEFA Women’s Champions League can be seen by the fans, by all the people who love this game, wherever they are on the globe,” UEFA chief of women’s football Nadine Kessler said.

“Such visibility changes everything, as the best female players and best women’s teams in the world can inspire more young girls and boys to fall in love with this sport. Together, we are all bringing women’s football to the world and everyone who will tune in will truly make a difference to something bigger.”

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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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