Disney has announced a major shake up for Disney+ in the United Kingdom and Europe, with an announcement that Disney+ will become the home of the UEFA Women’s Champions League across Europe from next season, with Disney+ subscribers being able to watch every match live at no extra cost.

The deal covers the live rights from October 2025 until the 2029/30 season and will make Disney+ the only place fans can watch all live matches in the competition. Coverage on Disney+ will launch in October 2025, marking a new era for the UEFA Women’s Champions League with the introduction of the 18-team League phase format. Bringing more excitement, unpredictability and bigger clashes from the League phase through to the 2026 Final at Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, all 75 matches in the competition will be live-streamed on Disney+.

The new deal continues the growing momentum of women’s football, ensuring high-quality coverage and prominent exposure for football fans of all generations to enjoy. ESPN, Disney’s multiplatform sports brand, will produce all live matches for Disney+ with commentary offered in multiple languages, alongside pre- and post-game programming. Disney’s rich heritage in sports through ESPN brings 45 years of outstanding broadcasting experience across a wide variety of sports content, including major football, basketball, hockey, tennis tournaments, and more, alongside the recent launch of the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Conference League on Disney+ in Denmark and Sweden.

Since 2020, UEFA Playmakers inspired by Disney continues to inspire girls across Europe to kick-off a lifelong love of football. The programme, which uses the magic of Disney storytelling has now given over 132,000 girls aged between 5 and 8 an opportunity to make friends, have fun and develop fundamental movement skills. UEFA Playmakers is available in over 6,300 centres in 46 countries across Europe. Almost 8,000 qualified coaches deliver the sessions, many of whom are taking their first steps in the world of coaching. Following this strong success, the UEFA Playmakers agreement was recently extended until 2027.

Karl Holmes, General Manager, Disney+ EMEA, commented:

“The UEFA Women’s Champions League is the very best in football performance, dedication, and passion. Bringing this incredible tournament to Disney+ customers and audiences speaks to our commitment to delivering a huge range of bold and dynamic entertainment. As women’s football continues to grow with audiences worldwide, we’re proud to offer the thrill and excitement of every single match to Disney+ customers across Europe, at no extra cost.”

Guy-Laurent Epstein, Co-Managing Director, UC3, added:

“The UEFA Women’s Champions League has seen exceptional growth in recent years, with record-breaking attendance, rising standards, and increasing global interest. These new broadcast deals not only reflect this but are important milestones in the continued development of women’s football in Europe, underscoring its growing importance and appeal to fans worldwide. We look forward to working with Disney+ and the Free-To-Air broadcast partners to continue to grow the women’s game in Europe.”

Over the last year, Disney has been expanding the use of the ESPN brand to Disney+ across the United States, Latin America and most recently, in Australia and New Zealand. Disney closed down its ESPN Player app a few years ago and has also secured global streaming rights for many big sports including the NBA.

Women’s football is also continuing to grow in popularity, so offering coverage included within a Disney+ subscription is hopefully going to lead to more people checking out the sport in the next five years.

Roger’s Take: This is the first major sports announcement for the UK and many European countries. I suspect later this year, the UK and Europe will follow how Disney+ operates in Australia and Latin America, with the introduction of the ESPN hub, offering subscribers a wide selection of content to keep people not just subscribed but also engaged with the platform. We are likely going to see Disney going after more live sports for the platform, ideally through global deals, but local sports licensing contracts are also a good way of boosting coverage.

Will you be checking out the Women’s Football on Disney+? Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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