Airdate: FIFA Club World Cup

Optus has gained streaming rights to the FIFA Club World Cup which begins on December 12 in Qatar, with the champion to be crowned on December 22.

“We are extremely pleased to add this tournament to our football schedule and we’re confident our 700,000 plus Optus Sport active subscribers will enjoy the format,” Optus’ Director of Sport, Richard Bayliss, said.

“Broadcasting Liverpool’s sixth Champions League triumph was a massive moment for Optus Sport, and it will be a privilege for us to show the Reds’ attempt to overcome the best of South America, Asia, North America and Africa. Brazil’s Flamengo had a stunning Copa Libertadores win in November, so they too will enter the World Cup in ominous form.

“These new rights show our commitment to showing Australians the best clubs from around the world on Optus Sport.”

Liverpool FC will be chasing its first ever FIFA Club World Cup title this December, and Optus Sport will be the only place to watch the 11-day tournament exclusively live.

Consistent with its approach of acquiring the most prominent international tournaments and extending its FIFA relationship after the extremely successful coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup earlier this year, Optus has secured the Australian rights to the FIFA Club World Cup for 2019 and 2020.

The FIFA Club World Cup is an international club football tournament between the winners of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation’s league champions. For the next two years, the tournament will be hosted by Qatar.

Real Madrid are the current FIFA Club World Cup champions and are the most successful club in the tournament’s history with four titles, while this year’s UEFA Champion Liverpool will appear at its second FIFA Club World Cup, after losing the final in 2005.

Optus Sport will provide every match exclusively live, on-demand, as a mini-match as well as creating various highlight packages across the tournament. The all new in-house, live 90-minute football show, Scores on Sunday, hosted on rotation by Mel McLaughlin, Richard Bayliss and Niav Owens and featuring some of Australia’s best pundits including Heather Garriock, Mark Schwarzer, John Aloisi and Alicia Ferguson will also provide analysis and opinion on the tournament.

The FIFA Club World Cup joins a slate of premium football content on Optus Sport scheduled for the next 12 months, including exclusively live coverage of every Premier League, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League match, in addition to the recently acquired rights to the Barclays FA Women’s Super League. This will be followed by the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, which will see Optus Sport show all 51 matches live.

Teams competing in the upcoming tournament:

Host country – Al-Sadd Sports Club
Europe – Liverpool
Africa – Esperance Sportive de Tunis
Asia – Al Hilal FC
North, Central America and Caribbean – Monterrey
Oceania – Hienghene Sport
South America – CR Flamengo