France’s pay-tv broadcaster Canal Plus and free-to-air (FTA) channel TF1 have acquired rights in the country to Uefa Women’s Euro 2021.

L'Équipe, the popular French sports newspaper, had previously reported last month that five broadcasters had tabled offers worth more than twice the €5 million (US$5.5 million) public broadcaster France Télévisions paid to secure domestic rights for Women’s Euro 2017.

Now that has been whittled down to two after the latest round of bids, with Canal Plus and TF1 having finalised details with Uefa, European soccer’s governing body, for a joint deal worth €13 million (US$14.3 million).

According to L'Équipe, FTA channel M6 and international pay-TV broadcaster BeIN Sports had joined forces to secure the rights, while offers were also submitted by Spanish agency Mediapro and France Télévisions.

Canal Plus will now show all 31 games from Women’s Euro 2021, while TF1 will have non-exclusive rights to 14 games. All of France’s games will be made FTA, along with five other group matches, two quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final.

If the reported amount is confirmed, it will mark the third consecutive major women’s soccer tournament where broadcast rights in France have increased. Following on from the €5 million for Women’s Euro 2017, TF1 bought the rights to this year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup for €10 million (US$11 million) before sublicensing them to Canal Plus.

Rights for Women’s Euro 2021 have already been secured in Spain with RTVE and by the BBC in the UK, as Uefa looks to build on the success of this year’s Women’s World Cup, with its director of marketing Guy-Laurent Epstein telling SportsPro the tournament is a ‘fantastic opportunity’ to grow the women’s game.