RTÉ Secures Uefa Champions League rights from 2027 to 2031

Ellen O'Donoghue

RTÉ have secured the rights to the Uefa Champions League from 2027 to 2031, with first pick live matches on Wednesday nights, plus the Uefa Champions League final.

The agreement also sees RTÉ secure rights to air the Uefa Super Cup finals and Wednesday night highlights, which are to be broadcast on RTÉ 2 and RTÉ Player.

Group head of RTÉ Sport, Declan McBennett, has said that RTÉ is "delighted" to have retained rights to the "greatest club competition in the world."

"When you look at the allocation of rights across all the territories involved, very few have a free-to-air presence remaining and Ireland is one of those, and that's critically important to us and to our audience."

During the Uefa Champions League last season, RTÉ 2 viewership for live matches was almost 200,000 on average, and was the third most-watched sporting competition on RTÉ Player in 2025, with a total of 1.4 million streams.

Uefa Champions League is also in the top 10 most-watched content on the RTÉ Player in 2026.

The new deal sees the Uefa Champions League sit alongside RTÉ's other live soccer broadcast rights for Uefa Euro 2028, the Republic of Ireland Men’s and Women’s National Teams, and the FAI Cup.

This summer, the 2026 Fifa World Cup also kicks off in the USA, Mexico, and Canada, featuring 48 teams with all 104 matches live and free to air on RTÉ 2 and RTÉ Player.