French court orders VPNs to block illegal Ligue 1 and UEFA football streaming sites
The move comes late in the season but has been welcomed by media operators.
France.- The Paris Judicial Court has sided with media operators and ordered virtual private network providers (VPNs) to ban on over 200 illegal sports streaming websites. The court issued the order against several major VPN providers, including NordVPN, SurfShark and Proton.
The action had been requested by media rights holders. Canal+ has the TV rights for the UEFA Champions League and DAZN, the owner of DAZN Bet has the rights for Ligue 1 in France, although its agreement has been terminated after just one year, with the league to explore options for launching its own platform.
Although the football season is coming to an end, the move comes just in time for Paris Saint-Germain’s appearance in the UEFA Champions League final on 31 May. Leagues and media partners hope the move will stop viewers from being able to access matches via illegal streaming.
Amid its fallout with France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), DAZN criticised the league for failing to take action against illegal streaming. Meanwhile, French bookmakers have complained that Ligue 1 betting volumes have been affected by DAZN’s failure to reach its target of 1.5 million subscribers for the season, contributing to lower media exposure compared to other major European leagues.
Data from the French gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux’s (ANJ), show that Ligue 1 accounted for just 9 per cent of stakes in France in 2024 – not much more than the share of bets placed on Spain’s La Liga and the English Premier League, which represented 7 per cent of French wagers each. Ligue 1’s share of stakes was below the 9.5 per cent of the Champions League, whose new rolling league led to more games oto bet on.
French players bet €5.6bn on football in 2024, while revenue accounted for 60 per cent of the market’s total gross gambling reveue of €1.8bn.
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