In the lead-up to Tokyo 2020, Eurosport has added to its existing portfolio of Olympic sports to be screened on its platforms having agreed on a three-year partnership with United World Wrestling.
The agreement, which runs until 2020, will see Eurosport showcase the very best events on the wrestling calendar—the World Championships and European Championships—across Europe in 54 countries and territories and 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region on linear, online and Eurosport Player. This includes Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia and Cambodia, across Southeast Asia.
Eurosport’s coverage begins with highlights shows from the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest this October. Next year, Eurosport is set to add to its coverage of the sport by screening highlights shows from the World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, as well as the best of the action from the European Wrestling Championships taking place in Bucharest, Romania. In 2020, Eurosport will once again show more world-class action as the best wrestlers in the world prepare for the Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.
Following today’s partnership announcement with UWW, Eurosport—Home of the Olympics in Europe—has now committed to screening 26 of the 33 sports set to feature in Tokyo 2020 on its various platforms—linear, online and Eurosport Player—across its network.
“We want to emphasize that sports such as wrestling are more than a series of events that only takes place at the Olympics. This partnership strengthens Eurosport’s ambition to tell year-round stories of current and future Olympians,” Laurent Prud’homme, Eurosport SVP Rights Acquisitions and Syndication, said. “Securing an agreement with the UWW will allow fans across Europe and the Asia-Pacific to follow their heroes in the lead-up to Tokyo. Equally, this also gives us the opportunity to educate sports fans who perhaps don’t know too much about wrestling.”
Nenad Lalovic, President of United World Wrestling, added: “We look forward to continuing our partnership with Eurosport and improving the level of exposure across Europe. We believe this partnership took a significant step forward last year during the successful World Championships in Paris and look to build on that for our major Championships and in the lead up to Tokyo 2020.”
Eurosport will also support the growth of wrestling via a series of TV and digital campaigns to run on its platforms for the duration of the deal.
Wrestling is one of the most iconic sports on the Olympic program having featured in every Summer Games since 1896 (except the year 1900).