The agreement first kicked in for the group stages of this year’s edition of South American club soccer’s premier competition and runs through to the quarter-finals.
The deal for this season will see more live games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays shown on the Facebook Watch streaming platform, while Fox Sports will have coverage of Thursday fixtures which would otherwise be exclusive to Facebook.
Games on Facebook Watch will be streamed via the CONMEBOL Libertadores and Fox Sports Facebook pages.
“The last season of the Liberators has shown us how sports fans have been involved through new social forms with the championship, with millions of people gathering to follow the games on Watch,” said Leonardo Lenz, Facebook’s Director of Sports Associations for Latin America.
“We are excited to renew this partnership with Fox Sports and bring even more opportunities for fans to connect with the tournament on Facebook.”
Both Facebook and Fox Sports hold rights to the Copa Libertadores until 2022 under separate four-year deals agreed with continental governing body CONMEBOL. The pair originally entered a content-sharing partnership for the competition last year to increase the number of games shown on their platforms.
“At CONMEBOL we are committed to the promotion and exhibition of South American football inside and outside our borders, so we are especially happy to renew agreements like this with Facebook Watch and Fox Sports that bring the great celebration of the Libertadores to fans of everyone through new digital platforms.” said Juan Emilio Roa, CONMEBOL’s Commercial and Marketing Director.
The countries covered in the deal are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, but not Brazil, where both Fox Sports and Facebook show games alongside Rede Globo and SporTV.
On 13th March it had been revealed that the Copa Libertadores has been temporarily suspended due to Coronavirus fears, beginning with those scheduled on 15th March. It is unknown when the competition is set to continue with the health and safety of everyone involved at the forefront.