Inside DAZN's host broadcast of the UEFA Women's Champions League Final By George Bevir
Friday, May 24, 2024 - 09:00
Print This Story
Dave Wade, DAZN head of football and multisport with Jemma Archer, DAZN senior producer women's football
When Barcelona takes on Lyon in the UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) Final in Bilbao on Saturday (25 May), it will be a clash between two of the most successful teams in the competition's history as well as the culmination of another season of comprehensive coverage of women's club football for DAZN.
Holders Barcelona will play in their fourth straight final, aiming to become the third team to win three titles. Meanwhile, in four competitive meetings so far including two finals record eight-time winners Lyon have won on every occasion.
I've been working in football around the world for a few years now, and this is one of the best stadiums I've been to it's purpose built for TV
For DAZN, which has positioned itself as the global home of women's football', the UWCL final provides the perfect opportunity to showcase the streaming platform's approach to covering the top tier women's football.
Every year, it's got bigger and better, says Dave Wade, DAZN head of football and multisport. For this particular match, we start off with our mantra that we have for every single match, which is we want to tell every story, cover every single angle and convey the live excitement and atmosphere inside the stadium to viewers, whether they're watching on their phone, their tablet, or in their living rooms on the TV.
It was back in July 2021 that DAZN acquired global rights to broadcast the UWCL and was awarded host broadcaster duties for the next four seasons to 2025. It was also the first time UEFA had centralised all Women's Champions League matches globally. In a bid for further exposure and growth, DAZN entered into a partnership with YouTube to make the competition live and free for fans around the world for the first time.
For the final, as well as producing its own unilateral coverage, DAZN is host broadcaster for 13 sub-licensees from across Europe plus Brazil and Mexico, each with their own unilateral presentation positions.
Supporting the UEFA Women's Champions League: Dave Wade and Jemma Archer
To support its production, DAZN appointed Mediapro as technical services provider. Says Wade: We looked at a range of companies and considered who's best placed to deliver what we need, and in this case, it was it was a fairly easy decision to go with Mediapro with the expertise that they've got, plus they know Bilbao and the San Mam s.
They also have a predominantly female crew (including host broadcast director Claudia Santos) which is an example of how forward-thinking they are as an organisation. We always want the best person for the job; there is no tokenism. And we don't patronise in our coverage. The game has grown up sufficiently that it's judged on its own merits.
Working alongside Wade is DAZN production manager Courtney Pascuad, plus Jemma Archer, DAZN's senior producer of women's football. Says Archer: We feel quite strongly that what you won't see in our broadcasts is 15 minutes dedicated to the rise of the women's game, because we've heard that a million times before. It's treated as football in a pure sense. This is a match, between the best players and our job is to tell the story.
Production planning for the final started in the summer, straight after the 2023 final in Eindhoven. The first site visit to Bilbao was in September of last year. Wade says: With UEFA, we spent a day looking at every single aspect of the stadium, whether that's the camera positions, the presentation positions, where the tunnels are everything that will help us to tell the story and all the subplots .
They considered using a box in one of the upper stands for the DAZN presentation position but it was deemed too far removed from the action so instead, presenters and pundits will be pitch side with no furniture' between them and the viewers. Viewers will see the players walking immediately behind and after the match, they'll come over to our press position and talk to us, so it's really embedded within the day itself, says Wade.
To tell the story of the final, the multilateral camera plan will be comprised of 17 cameras a significant uplift on UWCL group stage games, which typically have between three and five cameras to cover the action.
The Spidercam was already plugged in at the San Mam s, a great example of how suited the stadium is to broadcast, says Wade. I've been working in football around the world for a few years now, and this is one of the best stadiums I've been to; everything is catered for. It's an amazing arena, with every conceivable angle has been thought about when it was designed. It's purpose built for TV.
DAZN Visa FanZone
DAZN senior producer women's football Jemma Archer will work on DAZN's preview show airing on Friday and the integration of second screen experience DAZN Visa FanZone, available via DAZN in more than 200 countries including Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain. Functionality includes interactive features such as quizzes, live chat, and viewer polls - allowing fans to engage with the content and each other in real-time. These social and interactive elements are designed to add further dimension to the coverage.
Says Archer: We've had 72 million impressions, 890,000 interactions with fans from the quarterfinals, so it's been an amazingly successful initiative because it's the first time that the DAZN women's football team has worked on that with a brand like Visa.
It's something you can't replicate with a linear
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Marshall Electronics, a globally recognized provider of high-performance video solutions for broadcast, streaming, AV and professional production, will exhibit ...
08/10/2026
14-hour package also includes A Remarkable Place to Die season 2 as well as libr...
Inside DAZN's host broadcast of the UEFA Women's Champions League Final By George Bevir 
