beIN MEDIA GROUP AND FIBA ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP EXTENSION IN MENA UNTIL 2025
DOHA AND SWITZERLAND – 27 June 2022: beIN MEDIA GROUP, the global sports and entertainment group (beIN), and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) today announced an extension of their existing partnership that will see beIN SPORTS, beIN’s flagship sports channel, continue to broadcast FIBA’s major international and continental events until 2025 in the Middle East and North-Africa (MENA).
beIN has been an official broadcast partner for FIBA since 2006, catering to the region’s love of basketball with extensive live coverage of competitions, including also women’s and youth competitions as part of its flagship CSR initiative, beINSPIRED, that gives underrepresented sports and athletes the exposure they truly deserve. This commitment will be showcased next month with the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 Finals in Spain, as well as the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 Finals in Hungary.
beIN’s viewers will particularly enjoy the comprehensive coverage of games featuring the teams from within the MENA region across FIBA Asia and FIBA Africa, including the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers tipping off on June 30 and the FIBA Asia Cup 2022 on July 12.
beIN SPORTS’s renewal with FIBA further enhances the global broadcaster’s place as one of the world’s largest investors in sports media rights, and one of the biggest sports broadcasters on the planet. This agreement follows beIN’s recent Roland Garros and AFC competitions renewals that were struck in MENA within the past year.
This means beIN’s expansive portfolio in MENA includes the FIFA World Cup until 2030, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League until 2024 – including rights to UEFA Women Champions League, Ligue 1 until 2024, LaLiga until 2024, the NBA, Olympics and Wimbledon under long term agreements, and many more.
Speaking about the new agreement, Mohammed Al-Derham, Manager of Media Rights Acquisition-Sports at beIN MENA, said: “We are delighted to continue our long partnership with FIBA for the next four years, bringing the joy of basketball across the MENA region and into the homes and establishments of so many – both avid and new basketball fans.”
“We are very happy to continue this partnership and further extend the visibility of our international events for basketball fans over the next coming years in the MENA region”, said Frank Leenders, Director General of FIBA Media and Marketing Services. “With an incredible list of exciting events coming up this summer including the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers window this month and the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 in September, this partnership with beIN will provide viewers with unprecedented coverage and access to FIBA competitions in the years to come.”
The upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian, African and European Qualifiers will be on beIN SPORTS PREMIUM 1, beIN SPORTS PREMIUM 2 and beIN SPORTS PREMIUM 3 starting from Thursday 30 June, with Arabic commentary from beIN’s basketball experts.