La Liga matches to be streamed live in India, 8 other countries for free on Facebook
New Delhi: All the 380 matches of Spain's top-flight football league will be broadcast live for free on Facebook in a landmark deal, it was announced on Tuesday.
In a first-of-a-kind agreement, La Liga and Facebook announced that the hugely popular social media platform will become the official home for all the La Liga Santander matches in the Indian subcontinent.
The three-season deal commences with the 2018/19 campaign kicking off on August 17.
The viewers in the Indian subcontinent will now be able to watch the likes of Lionel Messi, Gareth Bale and a host of La Liga stars on Facebook.
The matches will be available for free to people on Facebook in India and other seven neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The Facebook community in the eight countries will be able to watch LaLiga Santander coverage on a live and on-demand basis via multiple devices. Every match will be available on the official LaLiga Facebook page as well as individual club pages, a release said.
"Now with Facebook, LaLiga has broken new ground, signing its first broadcast agreement ever with a social media platform," the release added.
Hailing the agreement, LaLiga President Javier Tebas said, "We are thrilled to team up with Facebook to bring the millions of LaLiga fans in the Indian subcontinent even closer to the action.
"LaLiga sets the standard for football in the world and we are delighted that more people than ever before will have the opportunity to watch our matches live and for free through Facebook in the region."
Peter Hutton, Facebook Head of Global Live Sports Programming, said, "As home to the two most-followed sports clubs on Facebook and some of the world's most iconic footballers, LaLiga has a huge global presence on our platform.
"Its popularity is notably visible in the Indian subcontinent, so we're delighted to be able to serve the community of fans there with free, live LaLiga matches for the next three seasons. We see this as a great opportunity to not only bring people together around world-class football, but also help LaLiga reach new audiences and grow its visibility in a key development market."
