In a tectonic shift in football coverage in India, all 380 La Liga games will be broadcasted on Facebook for the 2018/19 season, due to start this Friday (August 17th, 2018).
India is steadily earning a reputation as one of the most football-frenzied nations in the world, a claim corroborated by the fact that the country was fourth in registering the most number of Twitter impressions in the recently concluded FIFA World Cup, ahead of most European nations more disposed to the game of football.
Facebook penned a deal with the La Liga to telecast all the games from the Spanish League in the Indian subcontinent for the next three seasons. The deal is reportedly worth 90 million, paving the way for the leading tech giant to replace Sony as the official partner for broadcasting the games in India.
Besides India, this facility will be accessible to fans in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The subcontinent is a strategically important market for La Liga, allowing access to over 270 million users in India alone, and Facebook has shown its intent on expanding its footprint in Indian Sports Broadcasting.
Earlier this year, the social networking giant had signed a deal with Major League Baseball (MLB) to telecast 25 baseball matches in the US. While Facebook and MLB declined to disclose financial details, Bloomberg reported the deal was worth anywhere between $30 and $35 million.
People from across all social and economic backgrounds will be able to witness the greatest talents in world football without having to pay anything for it.
This deal between La Liga and Facebook is bound to change the way the game is consumed and could prove to be the single most important step in football coverage in India.
You can catch all the live action from all 380 La Liga games for the 2018/19 season right here on their Facebook page: La Liga Official
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