DAZN should get rights to South American football in wake of Club World Cup and FIFA partnership

• There is nothing quite like the atmosphere and flair of Football in South America

• BBC only broadcast the Semi-Finals and Final of the Copa Libertadores

• All other South American football is available on Fanatiz

• DAZN would give South American football the global stage it deserves and make it more accessible

Boca Juniors and Flamengo played their opening games at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup on Monday, and they dazzled both on and off the pitch. The iconic Argentine and Brazilian clubs were backed by the largest, loudest and most colourful fan bases on display so far at the tournament, and their beloved players were inspired to perform on the greatest stage. Boca Juniors flew into a 2-0 lead over Benfica at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, before the Portuguese giants mounted a stunning comeback, with the game ending 2-2 and both teams having a player sent off.

Then at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia the Brazilians dominated their Tunisian opponents, with former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho dazzling on his debut, producing a Player of the Match performance to help Flamengo to a 2-0 victory. Just more than 25,000 fans were in attendance, making enough noise to make it seem like the 72,000 capacity stadium was full. In Miami the crowd of 55,000 was largely in favour of the Argentinians, who vociferously backed their team throughout.

The passion, the colour, the flair and the atmosphere of South American football is unlike anywhere else in the world, and the continent is home to some of world football's biggest clubs, and most fiercely contested rivalries. Boca Juniors' great rivals, River Plate, play their first game of the tournament tonight at Lumen Field in Seattle against Japanese giants Urawa Red Diamonds. The rivalry between Boca and River is one of the biggest in world football, with their respective stadiums, La Bombonera and the Monumental rocking due to the passionate support of their football crazy fans.

They recently played each other at El Monumental (27 April) and the only place I could follow the game was via Google, with live coverage exclusively on Fanatiz, a platform dedicated to broadcasting South American football and sports globally, costing £9.99 per month. Fanatiz offers live coverage of the leagues in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Peru, as well as selected International games. In essence Fanatiz is designed for the South American who is living abroad, in Europe, or elsewhere in the world. In the United States CBS Sports Golazo has exclusive live rights to cover the Copa Libertadores, Argentine Premier League and Brazilian Serie A.

Fanatiz is currently the home of South American Football globally outside select South American countries

Streaming platforms and broadcasters dedicated to a single sport have always been a difficult sell in the UK, with general sports broadcasters which have more variety to offer usually doing far better.

DAZN is on a mission to establish itself as the global home of sport. They started with Boxing, and now, through its recently announced deal with FIFA, they will be showing action from more than 150 men's and women's leagues around the world, in addition to the FIFA Club World Cup. However, South American Football is not part of this deal.

DAZN could become the global home of South American football

South American Football, particularly the leagues in Argentina and Brazil, could establish itself on DAZN as a Sunday evening event in the UK, much like Serie A did with Sunday lunchtimes in the early 1990's on Channel 4. DAZN could also sub-license selected games to Channel 5, much like they have done with the FIFA Club World Cup, which would make financial sense for DAZN, and enable them to widen the exposure of their coverage to a greater audience in the UK. DAZN has created the global football creator program, and they could unleash it across its coverage of South American football, taking viewers closer to the action than ever before.

The Copa Libertadores is the stage for the biggest clubs across South America to take on each other, in the same way as the UEFA Champions League, and DAZN could be the home of Boca Juniors v Flamengo, River Plate v Fluminense, Santos v Atletico Nacional and much more.