SRF, the national public broadcaster in Switzerland, has confirmed that it has secured the rights to show a number of UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League games, including the final of each tournament. This means that anyone who lives in the alpine nation and pays their Swiss TV licence will be able to watch the greatest games in club football entirely for free.
In a statement on the SRF website, the firm announced that from the 2024 / 2025 season, the company will be broadcasting European club competitions for free. After a three-year agreement was made with UEFA and Swiss rights holder blue Sport, the corporation will be able to broadcast the three competitions on TV, laptops, mobile phones, and tablets through the SRF mobile app.
As part of the deal, at least one game per round from the Champions League - the group (league) stage, each knockout round and the final - will be free-to-air on Swiss television, meaning a total of 17 matches will be available for free. The same agreement will apply to all stages of the UEFA Europa League and the Conference League.
If a Swiss team qualifies and plays in the Champions League, or any other UEFA competition, their matches will be broadcast by SRF. Other free-to-air ties will be agreed upon between SRF and blue Sport, with the latter broadcasting the other games for a set fee. In addition, if a Swiss team (FC Basel, FCZ or Young Boys, for example) reaches the playoff phase of the competition, two extra games will also be broadcast.
The stream will be in German (on SRF), French (RTS) and Italian (RSI). According to a report from Blick, the public broadcaster is paying tens of millions of francs to show the matches - a surprising move given recent efforts to reduce the TV licence fee, which has recently included a proposal for a referendum pushed forward by the Swiss People's Party.
However, SRF Sport director Roland Mägerle argued that broadcasting the European football competitions is part of their mandate to provide sports coverage to the general public, especially if it involves a Swiss team. He told Blick that the corporation would continue to broadcast as many sports, and as many matches, as possible.
Blick concluded that because of the upcoming changes to the Champions League - the four-member group stage is being replaced by a 32-strong league - the chances of seeing a team from Zurich, Basel, Geneva or Bern in the finals will be better than ever. The last Swiss team to qualify for the Champions League knockout rounds was FC Basel, who in 2011 would go on to lose to eventual finalists Bayern Munich 7-1 on aggregate.
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