Euro 2024: Inside UEFA's International Broadcast Centre By George Bevir
Friday, July 12, 2024 - 08:00
Print This Story
The IBC in Leipzig, Germany (Photo by Tullio Puglia UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Just before the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 took place, SVG Europe took a tour of the UEFA's International Broadcast Centre (IBC) in Leipzig, Germany. Located in hall 4 of the Leipziger Messe exhibition building, the IBC serves as the hub of UEFA's host broadcast operations and a base for 27 of UEFA's broadcast partners.
At the heart of the 21,000 square metre IBC are the Master Control Room (MCR) and the Quality Control Rooms (QCR), which ensure the seamless broadcast and quality control of live feeds. It also hosts a range of operations and services, including Digital Broadcaster Services, Fan Zone TV, UEFA's ICT services operation, and is a hub for UEFA Editorial Content Services.
The IBC is also the central hub for UEFA's Broadcaster Services team for the tournament who employ over 100 staff members across the ten venues and IBC, all focused on providing support to more than 130 broadcast partners operating in over 200 territories worldwide, supported by CAA Eleven, UEFA's partner agency.
Read more Euro 2024: UEFA's technical broadcast plans
Additionally, it is the centre for Video Assistant Referee (VAR) operations for all 51 matches of the tournament. The Football Technology (FTECH) Hub is where VARs and Assistant Video Assistant Referees (AVARs) operate from four dedicated rooms to oversee all tournament matches.
The FTECH Hub also processes data from various technologies, including goal-line technology and electronic performance tracking systems, as well as sensors embedded in Kinexon's connected balls. This data is quality controlled in real time and distributed to UEFA's applications, such as the new semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) and the performance analyst portal.
Hawk-Eye supplies the technology for goal-line technology, VAR, SAOT, and Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems (EPTS) and medical and tactical video review systems.
Enhancing coverage: UEFA's Editorial Content Services
UEFA's Editorial Content Services (ECS) offers comprehensive content support to broadcast partners. With 108 people based in London at the headquarters of supplier Whisper, it provides a more sustainable approach to producing non-live content and is a continuation of the model adopted during the Covid-restricted Euro 2020 tournament, which took place in 2021.
Pre-Euro 2024 coverage provided by ECS included the Road to UEFA Euro 2024' magazine show, access days with teams, and host city content. During the tournament, ECS has delivered highlights, review shows, curated ISO compilations, and a daily Euro bulletin.
In London, the ECS team operates 14 edit suites, with 30 producers and APs, 22 editors, 13 production managers, eight graphic designers, and seven engineers and tech support personnel. They are supported by a few staff in Leipzig overseeing a KVM setup that allows for a remote operation with workstations in London editing via a 50-gig connection content that resides in Leipzig.
Live production and content acquisition
The OB operation is a pan-European affair, with five companies supporting UEFA's host broadcast operation at the 10 venues used throughout the tournament, including Germany's TVN (responsible for the final in Berlin and matches at Hamburg), plus Mediapro's trucks from its Spain and Portugal operations (based at Frankfurt and Leipzig), as well as EMG UK (Dusseldorf and Cologne), AMP Visual from France (Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund) and NEP from both Germany and Italy (Munich and Stuttgart).
A UEFA spokesperson explained: We're acquiring everything in 1080p 50 HDR, bringing it back to the IBC and then converting to 1080p50 SDR and 1080i50 SDR before we send the signals back to the venue. The low latency to do all conversions here at the IBC gives up a lot more control.
Virtual Board Replacement
UEFA Euro 2024 marks the first time a Euro has utilised virtual board replacement (VBR), a process that replaces in-stadium LED advertisements with targeted ads for specific regions: China, Germany, and the US.
VBR is only active during live play on the main broadcast camera, providing tailored advertising without disrupting the viewer experience. AIM Sport supplies VBR operations from the IBC, ensuring reliability and signal continuity.
A dedicated production Quality Control (QC) team is responsible for monitoring the consistency and quality of all multilateral feeds from all venues. The QC team is in communication with the UEFA production teams on-site at the venues on match day (MD) and match day-1 (MD-1). They monitor consistency of coverage, ensure the principles set out in the TV Directors Guidelines are adhered to and review broadcast partner feedback.
A dedicated audio expert, also based in the production quality control room, listens to all audio components and liaises with the stadiums to ensure the highest audio quality and consistency. A team of specialists monitor and control all aspects of picture quality from the dedicated HDR quality control room. In addition, there are dedicated MD-1 and FANTV quality control rooms.
Each broadcast venue team, led by the broadcast venue manager and broadcast engineering manager also includes a UEFA live producer, reporting to the IBC QC team, who works closely with the TV match director at their respective venue. The UEFA live producer is responsible for quality control on-site, ensuring that all feeds meet the standards, guidelines and requirements laid down by UEFA.
With a 50-gigabit connection to Whisper and a 200-gigabit diverse connection to each venue, the IBC handles approximately 5TB of data. The Telco Interface Room (TIR), deli
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands
If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...
10/06/2026
November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco
Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...
10/06/2026
Debut instrument free for limited time
deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...
10/06/2026
Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast
10 June, 2026
Media releases
WATCH THE TRAILER
Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...
10/06/2026
DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...
10/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...
10/06/2026
MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
10 Jun 2026
VEON's Banglalink Brings Every World Cup 2026 Match to Football...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
How to watch every ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports
Where is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 availabl...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
P RLA brings first-ever Beautifully Clean Oral Care'...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
Sky reveals pulse-pounding first teaser trailer for upco...
10/06/2026
Wuppertal June 10, 2026
Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurovascular ConferenceAt the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Li...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC
Product
10 June 2026
GlobalSouth KoreaJapan
Link copied to c...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions
Business
10 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
N...
10/06/2026
Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
Euro 2024: Inside UEFA's International Broadcast Centre By George Bevir 
