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France: DAZN seeks €573m from LFP

February 21, 2025

From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

Sport streaming platform DAZN, holder of the French Ligue 1 football rights, has demanded €573 million from French professional football league LFP, in a dispute about payment linked to growing piracy.

DAZN has decided to sue LFP before the Paris commercial court for “deception on merchandise” and “observed failure”. The streamer, which acquired bought Ligue 1 rights for an annual total of around €500 million (eight of the nine matches per day) along with beIN Sports, considers the acquired product doesn’t adhere to the stipulations made.

This comes a few days after LFP summoned DAZN for proceedings before the same court, in order to ensure the €35 million that the platform is threatening not to pay will be covered as part of the €70 million fourth payment due for mid-February.

According to reports, DAZN contends that the damage suffered from is divided into two parts: €309 million for “deception on the product”, an amount to which is added €264 million for “observed failure”.

The platform believes that the figures on the number of subscribers from the previous cycle, as well as the revenues generated, don’t correspond with the reality. It also accuses a lack of cooperation from clubs to promote ‘Ligue 1 products’ that it sells to its subscribers. It is also seeking compensation for piracy, bad marketing and the lack of protection of the rights exclusivity.

According to various sources, DAZN has around 500,000 subscribers, which is far short of the 1.5 million it expected to attract at the start of the season. If the target isn’t reached in December 2025, DAZN has a clause to exit the contract with the LFP which is supposed to run until 2029. Equally, the LFP can also terminate the deal at the same time.

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