Further to the recent release announcing the launch of the new UEFA youth club football competition, UEFA announced today that international broadcaster Eurosport has been awarded media rights to the 2013-15 UEFA Youth League.

Eurosport has been awarded the exclusive European media rights to the first-pick match each matchweek. In this respect, Eurosport will produce the first-pick matches (including the semi-finals and final) and broadcast them across its pan-European network of channels (Eurosport or Eurosport 2). As of the semi-finals, the UEFA Champions League rights-holders in the countries of the participating teams will have the possibility to acquire the media rights of the matches co-exclusively with Eurosport.

Eurosport is the first official broadcast partner of the 2013-15 UEFA Youth League, however UEFA Champions League rights holders will also have the opportunity to produce and broadcast UEFA Youth League matches.

Commenting on the awarding of these rights, Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA Events SA, said: “UEFA is delighted to announce Eurosport as the first rights holder of the 2013-15 UEFA Youth League. UEFA is looking forward to working with Eurosport in order to build and promote this newly created competition. Eurosport’s wide reach and promotional and production expertise are key assets for the exposure of the competition and as a long-term partner of UEFA’s other youth competitions, Eurosport is a natural fit for the UEFA Youth League.“

The first match to be produced and broadcast live on Eurosport will be Manchester United FC v Bayer 04 Leverkusen on 17 September at 17.00 CET.