Sportdigital backs expanded WSL with full-match German package

Sportdigital has extended its German Women’s Super League rights for another season as WSL Football begins testing the international value of a competition expanded to 14 clubs.The German broadcaster will make all WSL matches available through its Sportdigital1+ linear channel or Sportdigital+ streaming service and will also carry the Subway Players Cup.Sportdigital managing director Bendix Eisermann said: “Not least the move of Alexia Putellas to the BWSL shows how important the league has become.”The renewal gives the WSL continued distribution in an important European football market during a season in which its available inventory has increased substantially.Expansion from 12 to 14 teams creates 182 league fixtures, giving domestic and international media partners more live content to schedule and monetise. The German market also has a direct player-interest connection.A significant group of German internationals are competing in the WSL, including players at Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. That gives Sportdigital a domestic promotional route into an otherwise international club competition.The broadcaster has carried WSL rights in recent seasons and says demand for elite women’s football supported its decision to extend. Financial terms were not disclosed.The one-season duration limits the long-term commercial visibility of the agreement, but it provides an early overseas distribution test for WSL Football after increasing the size of the league.More fixtures can create additional media value, but they also require international broadcasters to find sufficient audience demand for the expanded schedule.Making the full competition available across linear and streaming platforms gives Sportdigital flexibility over how individual matches are distributed. The Subway Players Cup adds another property to that inventory.International rights growth remains an important opportunity for leading women’s leagues as domestic revenues increase and more clubs invest in their women’s teams.Germany will now provide one measurable market in which the WSL can test whether greater supply translates into greater overseas consumption.