- Sportradar has announced an exclusive betting data distribution deal with international soccer sanctioning body UEFA.
- The deal covers all UEFA competitions including two of the biggest events in international sports: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA European Championships.
- Sportradar provides soccer betting data to over 900 bookmakers worldwide.
In the past few years, data has become big business. More specifically, sports leagues around the world have found a very lucrative revenue stream by packaging and marketing their statistical data for betting purposes. In the United States, the size and scope of this market became evident when Genius Sports signed a deal to distribute NFL betting data that is reportedly worth$1 billion USD over the life of the agreement.
A potentially bigger deal was signed just a few days ago as sports betting technology company Sportradar announced an exclusive agreement with international soccer sanctioning body UEFA. Sportradar becomes UEFA’s exclusive authorized collector and distributor of data for betting purposes, as well as extending its role as UEFA’s official integrity partner. The deal includes the full portfolio of UEFA sanctioned events including the UEFA Champions League and UEFA European Championships–two of the most lucrative betting events in the world.
Here’s the full parameters of the deal from the press release making the announcement:
Sportradar secured the exclusive landmark agreement following UEFA’s first competitive tender process for its data distribution rights for betting purposes. The agreement covers 1,550 matches from the 2021/22 season through to the end of the 2023/24 season across all UEFA properties including UEFA EURO 2024, the European Qualifiers, the UEFA Nations League, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League, UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Women’s Champions League and UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, Under-21s and UEFA Futsal Champions League and UEFA Futsal EURO Championship.
The announcement comes as European football’s governing body seeks to maximise the value of its match data and drive deeper engagement worldwide with football fans. Through its global network of more than 900 bookmaker clients, Sportradar provides access to football fans in 120 different countries worldwide.
Carsten Koerl, Chief Executive Officer of Sportradar, is no doubt pleased that his company landed such a lucrative data product:
“Sportradar has more than 20 years’ experience collecting and building valuable products from football match data, and now, as the world’s leading sports technology company, we’re the only organisation with the technological capabilities and unique resources to truly support the growth of one of the biggest federations in global sport.”
“Football remains the world’s most popular sport and we’re extraordinarily pleased that UEFA selected Sportradar in their competitive process. We look forward to working with them closely to support their engagement with the betting industry.”
Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Marketing Director, is excited to be working with Sportradar:
We are very happy to enter into this partnership with Sportradar, who are a global leader in delivering sports data. It follows a long-standing partnership with the company as our official integrity partner and it links to our recent announcement of Bwin as the first betting partner for one of our competitions. The combination of the two partnerships allows UEFA to engage more openly with the sports betting sector, giving greater access to market intelligence and support from both a sports integrity and a commercial perspective.”
Sportradar will continue to provide betting integrity services for UEFA:
As part of this agreement, UEFA and Sportradar will extend their long-standing integrity cooperation, which will now include dedicated Intelligence & Investigation Services to support UEFA’s anti match-fixing unit. Sportradar will also continue to provide UEFA with its robust and proven bet monitoring services to protect the integrity of UEFA and its member associations’ competitions as it has for the last 12 years, to safeguard the sport from match fixing activities.
The agreement with UEFA continues to strengthen Sportradar’s existing portfolio of football rights, which includes high profile partnerships with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL).
Sportradar’s reach and influence in the betting data world is staggering:
Sportradar employs more than 2,300 full time employees across 19 countries around the world. It is our commitment to excellent service, quality and reliability that makes us the trusted partner of more than 1,600 customers in over 120 countries and an official partner of the NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, FIFA, UEFA and ITF. We cover more than 750,000 events annually across 83 sports. With deep industry relationships, Sportradar is not just redefining the sports fan experience; it also safeguards the sports themselves through its Integrity Services division and advocacy for an integrity-driven environment for all involved.
Soccer betting produces significantly more betting revenue worldwide than any other sport including the NFL. UEFA sanctioned events account for 15% of the industry’s soccer betting turnover.
