UEFA Champions League Final 2025: Host Broadcaster DAZN Reveals the Plan for This Hotly Contested Visual Feast

UEFA Champions League Final 2025: Host broadcaster DAZN reveals the plan for this hotly contested visual feast By Heather McLean

Thursday, May 29, 2025 - 11:56

Print This Story

With the hotly contested UEFA Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Internazionale taking place this weekend, DAZN, the host broadcaster for UEFA, is limbering up for kickoff.

The match, which is taking place at Munich's Allianz Arena on 31 May, sees DAZN running the host broadcast as well as its own unilateral production from the stadium, with help from technical services providers TVN Group supporting the host broadcast and Studio Berlin for the unilateral effort.

On how the production of this final compares to any other kind of high level match, Stefanie Fulczyk, DAZN's director of production resources, says that while DAZN is used to a multitude of production standards across the countries it works across, from Canada to Germany and New Zealand to Luxembourg, the high level of redundancy required for this final is unusual, but expected given the huge number of rights holders.

Speaking to SVG Europe, she explains: The whole final is a challenge! We are used to really different production standards, but this final is a new experience for us. We are super, super happy to take it, but from a production point of view it was so much work to do to be sure everything is settled.

Usually you have one OB truck on site for the host broadcasting [but here] a huge difference compared to other productions is you have a second HB on site. That means the backup signal is produced by exactly the same truck equipment as we have for the final signal. You always have a backup signal if you do a host broadcasting of course, but [here] you are producing it in a smaller gallery in the same truck and having a power generator next to it, so that's super different. So you have really two separate productions running just for that match.

DAZN crew setting up for the UEFA Champions League Final 2025

Tech perspective

UEFA and DAZN and throwing everything they can form a technical perspective at this 90 minute long visual feast. Fulczyk says: We are producing the word feed. We have over 40 cameras on site, which means we are talking about eight super slow mos, we are talking about one helicopter, we are talking about polecams, cinematic cameras, steadicams and all that stuff. It's doubled, just to provide all of the people all over the world the highest premium content that we can provide for that final.

Onsite DAZN has over 120 people who are taking care of the production, which is huge, notes Fulczyk. Preparation onsite begins on matchday minus 12, a significant difference to a regular premier football match.

Says Fulczyk: Usually the trucks are parking up match day minus three or minus two, but for such a final, it is matchday minus 12. We have full team on site matchday minus nine, which is crazy, but it's necessary. We have collected the best of the best people to work with us for this final from across Europe, which wasn't easy, as organising people is like a challenge.

Usually we at DAZN, we try to work with local people just to make sure we have our guys everywhere all over Europe, but this time we said, no, we are flying and using trains for the best of the best in Europe, just to make sure we are able to have the smoothest production we can have for such a challenging, big project.

Sebastian [TV match director Sebastian Von Freyberg] as our director, he's used to do the big finals for FIFA for the World Cups. We flew him in for our Champion League Final. So we're trying to combine as much efficiency as we have as a German broadcaster, she laughs, regarding the stereotype of German productivity, by delivering the best product we can to make sure that this final of the best experience for everyone.

The UEFA Champions League Final 2025 TV compound

Increasing access

Going forwards, DAZN is always working to increase the access it can get for viewers. During the Champions League season it has been trialling behind the scenes footage for UEFA to peruse, in the hope that one day, added access might be granted.

Comments Fulczyk: We make progress as a broadcaster and as DAZN, of course we want to have as much access as possible. We would like to be in the locker room when the guys are dressing up and down again, but of course that's impossible. We know that!, she laughs.

She adds: But we had a really interesting showcase shortly before the season together with one of the German clubs VfB Stuttgart and we have been able to implement a body camera just as a showcase, which we sent to UEFA, to just prove to them we have it under control, we don't expose secrets of the staff or something.

But this needs time, Fulczyk says, referring to the process of gaining more access. This is a very long lasting process, but every broadcaster all over the world is requesting almost the same things in regard of access. But especially at the final, one of the biggest sport events in the world; you can imagine how many international takers are there. From an HB perspective and UEFA perspective, and as DAZN within the partnership with UEFA, we are of course supporting them in protecting the rights of the rights holders.

LINK:	https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/uefa-champions-league-final-h...
	See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group