Proud2Play launches Parklife in support of the rainbow community

Proud2Play have announced the launch of an exciting new program for the rainbow community which will see social sport sessions run across five sites in Melbourne.

Funded by a VicHealth Reimagining Health grant, the Proud2Play initiative will provide free and inclusive sporting sessions to marginalised groups in partnership with Football Victoria and Cricket Australia.

Sessions will be completely free and run by community volunteers who have been trained in coaching and LGBTQI+ inclusion in sport. The session locations include the City of Melbourne, Cardinia Shire, Nillumbik Council, City of Monash and Darebin Council.

Football Victoria CEO Kimon Taliadoros spoke about the importance of growing the world game for all communities in Victoria.

“As the governing body for football in Victoria, we acknowledge our responsibility to provide access for every person who wishes to play. The magic of football is occurring in more places, with more people and more often throughout Victoria and Australia,” he said.

Research has shown that 80% of all sports participants in Australia have experienced or witnessed discrimination on the basis of sexuality. Half of all transgender people, a quarter of males and 10% of females are reported to have avoided playing sports they would like to play because of their sexuality or gender identity.

Parklife aims to address these inequities by providing a safe and welcoming environment for community members to be more active, enhance social bonds and strengthen connection to community.

Proud2Play CEO Christine Granger was proud to see the inclusive Parklife initiative announced.

“Sport can be such a powerful tool for inclusion, however, has all too often been an unsafe space for people in our communities. We are excited to be able to offer a space for LGBTIQ+ folks to come together in a social format and enjoy the benefits of participating in sport that so many take for granted,” she said.

“We hope this will help foster a positive relationship with sport for the participants, leading to ongoing involvement into their future.”

Parklife sessions are postponed at the time of publication due to Victoria’s COVID-19 restrictions relating to community sport and activities being prohibited. The lockdown measures are to be continued or eased from Tuesday, July 27 at 11:59pm. 

EFL scores record-breaking international broadcast rights deal

The English Football League (EFL) has secured record deals worth at least £148million (AU$286.6 million) for its international TV rights across a four-season period.

The EFL has ensured guaranteed international rights fees with two agencies, Pitch International and Relevent Sports, distributing the content across global TV markets until the conclusion of the 2027-28 season.

The Pitch International deal is worth at least AU$199.8m and the Relevant Sports deal is worth AU$86.8m with the EFL covering every corner of the earth in a bid to expand the lower divisions of English football.

Pitch International covers Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Asia and will distribute 155 Championship games, 38 League One and League Two matches, all promotion play-off fixtures, Carabao Cup rounds, and three EFL Trophy matches. Australians can watch all distributed EFL matches through a beIN Sports subscription.

Relevent Sports, who cover the Americas (North, Central and South) region, will sell all EFL matches, promotion play-off games, Carabao Cup rounds, and three EFL Trophy fixtures. Additionally, they will manage all betting rights throughout the United States.

EFL chief executive Trevor Birch mentioned the importance this brings to both exposure of the league and revenue for clubs in the EFL.

“These new agreements represent not only guaranteed levels of revenue but also present the League and our 72 clubs with a fantastic opportunity to establish further the EFL as a premium football brand in markets across the world,” he said in a statement released by the EFL.

“In Pitch and Relevent we have two partners with an in-depth understanding of the global TV rights markets and that knowledge, coupled with the enthusiasm of their teams, will hopefully ensure we achieve our objective of delivering value to Clubs alongside taking EFL football to as wide an audience as possible outside the UK.”

Fans overseas won’t miss out on their own teams matches despite the limited number of distributed games.

“Importantly, clubs will be able to continue international streaming services direct to fans overseas, where matches are not being broadcast exclusively, enabling those based abroad the chance to watch their team’s matches throughout the whole season,” Birch added.

This international agreement comes shortly after the EFL signed a domestic rights agreement with broadcaster Sky Sports, valued at a whopping AU$1.8 billion over five years. This deal ensures over 1,000 matches each season are broadcasted to local fans.

Another big milestone from the EFL after a record-breaking domestic rights deal. The league have ambitions of seeing exponential growth in the Americas and Africa with this deal and have made it significantly easier for fans all around the world to view the leagues.

FIFA+ delivering valuable exposure for Oceania football

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is partnering with FIFA’s football streaming platform, FIFA+, to broadcast its international and club competitions for two years.

The deal signifies a major win for the commercialisation and promotion of Oceanian football globally.

FIFA+ is a mobile and desktop application that provides subscribers with live streaming of various FIFA competitions, magazine shows, documentary films, and archived matches from previous tournaments.

The application will televise all major OFC competitions, such as the OFC Champions League (Men’s, women’s and youth), futsal and beach soccer competitions, and the men’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.

The World Cup qualifying campaign takes on greater importance this year, as for the first time ever, OFC nations will battle for one automatic spot at the 2026 Men’s FIFA World Cup.

It represents an important moment for Oceanian football, and while there is global scepticism about FIFA’s move to a 48-team men’s World Cup, it is the smaller nations like those in Oceania who will benefit greatly.

Adding OFC’s collaboration with FIFA+ to the mix only incentivises players and coaches further, providing them a platform to build their careers and future pathways.

“This partnership with FIFA+ marks a new era for Oceania football. It’s a monumental step towards realising our dreams and showcasing the talents of our region to a global audience,” OFC General Secretary Franck Castillo said via press release.

“We are excited about the opportunities this collaboration unlocks and the new horizons it opens for our players, teams, and fans.”

The increased coverage will be crucial to OFC’s commercial endeavours and future sustainability as an organisation. General Secretary Castillo paid tribute to the efforts of OFC members to secure this deal.

“In the last five years, OFC has gone to great lengths to grow football coverage across the Pacific and provide quality broadcast production standards to all fans,” he added via media release.

“As a testament to these efforts, our social media following has increased by 110% and live streaming views by 200% since 2019. We have rallied media rights in the broadcast space and expanded our distribution from four regional TV broadcasters to 26.”

“We have also expanded commercially through selling our live streaming, media and data rights for the next two years – 2024 and 2025; this is a major step forward for us in the commercial space.”

Below is the full list of competitions to be shown live and free on FIFA+ in 2024:

OFC Women’s Champions League – Solomon Islands | 10-23 March

OFC Men’s Nations Cup – Qualifying – Tonga | 20-26 March

OFC U-19 Men’s Championship – Qualifying – Vanuatu | 9-15 April

OFC U-16 Men’s Championship – Qualifying – Tonga | 13-19 April

OFC Futsal Men’s Champions League – New Caledonia | 23-28 April

OFC Men’s Champions League – Tahiti | 11-24 May

OFC U-16 Women’s Championship – Qualifying – New Zealand | 14-20 June

OFC Men’s Nations Cup – Vanuatu | 15-30 June

OFC U-19 Men’s Championship – Samoa | 7-20 July

OFC U-16 Men’s Championship – Tahiti | 28 July-10 August

OFC Futsal Women’s Nations Cup – Solomon Islands | 18-24 August

FIFA World Cup 2026™ – Oceania Qualifiers MD 1 & 2 – Samoa | 2-10 September

OFC U-16 Women’s Championship – Fiji | 8-21 September

FIFA World Cup 2026™ – Oceania Qualifiers MD 3 – New Zealand & Vanuatu | 7-15 October

OFC Beach Soccer Men’s Nations Cup – Solomon Islands | 20-26 October

FIFA World Cup 2026™ – Oceania Qualifiers MD 4 & 5 – New Zealand & Papua New Guinea | 11-19 November

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