European football leagues expand data partnerships
The Association of European Professional Football Leagues, an organisation that represents over 900 clubs in 32 professional football leagues and associations across the continent, has extended its data partnerships with Genius Sports, Sportradar and Stats Perform.
The multi-league agreements will run for a further three seasons through to 2022, extending the initial cooperation that began in 2017.
The non-exclusive deals will cover 16 leagues and associations across Europe, giving each league’s official betting data partners access to in-stadia positions for the live collection of data to then provide to their betting operator customers.
Leagues and associations included in the extended deals include the Austrian Bundesliga, Belgium ProLeague, Czech Ligová Fotbalová Asociace, Danish Divisionsforeningen, Finnish Football League Association, Greek Super League, Israeli Professional Football League and the Professional Football League of Kazakhstan.
The agreements also cover the Latvian Football Higher League, Dutch Eredivisie, Norwegian Toppfotball, Liga Portugal, Romanian Liga Profesionista de Fotbal, Serbian Super Liga, Swedish Föreningen Elitfotboll and the Swiss Football League.
“The European Leagues are uniquely positioned to take advantage of opportunities such as these and we look forward to continuing to support the development of our members in relation to league business development,” European Leagues managing director Jacco Swart said.
“I’m delighted that we have not only being able to continue the relationship we have developed with these companies but that the number of leagues participating in this collective commercial project increased significantly which is the best proof that this approach functions.”
Genius Sports managing director Steven Burton said the expanded partnership outlined his company's commitment to ensuring a “fair and transparent” return from betting on their games.
“Each of the leagues included in this agreement has control over how their data is collected and distributed, affording vital visibility to safeguard their competitions,” he explained.
David Lampitt, managing director sports of partnerships at Sportradar, added: “We view cooperation as key to the integrity, growth and sustainability of global sport, and we look forward to continuing to working together in an open, transparent and collaborative manner for the benefit of the leagues.”
Stats Perform's chief rights officer Alex Rice, meanwhile, hailed the “transparent and progressive approach” taken by the European Leagues, something he said provided value and security for the member leagues and “encourages the collection and distribution of high-quality fast data with the upmost integrity to the betting markets”.