EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENT WITH AFC IN VIETNAM

CANAL+ Group and its subsidiary in Vietnam K+ have concluded an unprecedented agreement to acquire on an exclusive basis all competitions organized by the AFC for the 2025/2026 to 2028/2029 seasons in Vietnam, this partnership starting priorly with the AFC Asian Qualifiers™ (FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers Final Round) in September 2024. This exclusive agreement continues to strongly affirm K+ position as the leading broadcaster of sports contents in Vietnam.

This agreement includes more than 25 competitions, among which the final round for Asia’s top 18 nations on their qualification journey for the FIFA World Cup 2026, the broadcasting of the AFC Asian Cup™ 2027 (the continent’s most prestigious event featuring Asia’s top 24 nations), as well as the AFC Champions League™ and the second tier of the AFC’s revamped club competition (presently known as the AFC Cup™), which are the 2 leading club competitions in Asia. Furthermore, men’s senior national team as well as the AFC Asian Cup™ 2027 final will also be covered on broad reach linear free-to-air television in the country.

AFC competitions are attracting increasingly large audiences in Vietnam, where the performances of local clubs have created a strong appetite for these competitions, without forgetting the recent performance of the national team, Southeast Asia’s only representative in the AFC Asian Qualifiers™ – Road to Qatar Final Round.

With this agreement, the CANAL+ Group, established in Vietnam via its K+ subsidiary, is aiming to become the reference broadcaster of the Vietnamese national team and the best Vietnamese clubs, in a context of rising popularity of Vietnamese football.

Launched in 2009, K+ is a joint venture between VTV, the leading public television group in Vietnam, Opal, a subsidiary under Openasia Group and the CANAL+ Group, which distributes packages of more than 164 channels via satellite and app on smart device (TV, laptop, tablet, mobile phone) and produces 5 premium K+ channels (including 2 sports channels) specifically for the Vietnamese market.

K+ is positioned as the leading sports broadcaster in Vietnam, broadcasting major competitions on an exclusive basis such as the Premier League, Formula 1, UFC, ATP, the Australian Open or LIV Golf.

Already strongly involved in the local audiovisual industry through the production of Vietnamese TV series and other entertainment contents under K+ORIGINAL label, K+ marks through this acquisition the will to reinforce its commitment to local content and to sports through a long-term partnership with Asian and Vietnamese football.

For Datuk Seri Windsor John, AFC General Secretary: “Football in Vietnam has seen tremendous development across all levels in recent years, which further underlines the progress of the AFC’s Vision and Mission. We are delighted to confirm this agreement with CANAL+ Group to enhance the consumption and reach of our world-class competitions in football-loving Vietnam and we are grateful for their faith in the AFC and in the future of the Asian game.”

For Manuel Rougeron, Executive Vice-President APAC of CANAL+ International: “We are delighted and looking forward to bringing to our customer and Vietnamese fans the best of the Asian football with unmatched quality standard in the country. This is a new step for K+ in Vietnam and the confirmation of our strong anchorage in this country.”

ABOUT CANAL+ GROUP

CANAL+ Group, a subsidiary of Vivendi, is a major player in the creation and distribution of content worldwide, with 25,5 million subscribers, a presence in more than 50 countries and 7 600 employees on every continent. CANAL+ Group has 9,5 million subscribers in France and 7,6 million in Africa. It is the leading television operator in French-speaking Africa and the largest shareholder in MultiChoice, the leader in pay-TV in English and Portuguese-speaking Africa. CANAL+ Group is a major player in the production and marketing of television channels, with 130 linear and non-linear channels produced in-house. It aggregates major thematic channels and global content platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+ and Apple TV+.
With 3.5 billion euros invested in content each year, it is a key player in sport (main funder in France of football and rugby), films (leading funder in France and Poland), and series (including more than 50 original series per year in more than 15 languages). With the support of its subsidiary STUDIOCANAL, which owns 14 production companies, including 9 in Europe and one in the United States, CANAL+ Group is the leading producer and distributor of feature films and TV series in Europe. It holds a catalogue of more than 8 000 titles from more than 60 countries. Finally, it is also a key player in digital with its CANAL+/myCANAL app, whose international deployment is accelerating, with a presence in some thirty countries to date.

ABOUT THE AFC

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of Asian football and one of the six Confederations making up FIFA. Established in 1954, the AFC is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and comprises 47 Member Associations. The AFC organises the AFC Asian CupTM, the AFC Women’s Asian CupTM and the AFC Futsal Asian CupTM which are the flagship Continental national team football and futsal competitions, while the AFC Champions LeagueTM is the premier competition for Asian clubs, drawing millions of fans to the beautiful game across the length and breadth of the Continent and beyond.

CONTACTS CANAL+ GROUP

Elvire Charbonnel - Group Communication : elvire.charbonnel@canal-plus.com

Hala Saab – CANAL+ International – VP Communication : hala.saab@canal-plus.com