RTÉ Sport has successfully secured UEFA Champions League rights from 2027 to 2031, with first pick live free-to-air matches on Wednesday nights plus the UEFA Champions League Final.
The agreement also sees RTÉ secure rights to air the UEFA Super Cup finals and Wednesday night highlights which will be broadcast on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
"RTÉ is delighted to have retained the rights to the greatest club competition in the world," said Group Head of RTÉ Sport, Declan McBennett.
"When you look at the allocation of rights across all the territories involved, very few have a free-to-air presence remaining and Ireland is one of those, and that's critically important to us and to our audience."
RTÉ will be the sole free-to-air rights holder in Ireland when the new cycle begins from the 2027/28 edition of the competition.
Tuesday night matches will no longer be free-to-air in Ireland after May 2027, with Virgin Media Television confirming that it had not retained its broadcast rights to the UEFA Champions League.
"The market for premium international sports rights has accelerated at a pace that is no longer sustainable for an entirely advertiser funded Irish free‑to‑air commercial broadcaster operating responsibly and independently," Virgin Media Television said in a statement.
During the UEFA Champions League last season, the viewership on RTÉ2 for live matches was nearly 200,000 on average.
It was the third most watched sporting competition on RTÉ Player in 2025 with a total of 1.4 million streams.
UEFA Champions League is in the top ten most watched content on the RTÉ Player in 2026.
This new deal sees the UEFA Champions League sit alongside a comprehensive offering of live soccer broadcast rights for UEFA EURO 2028, the Republic of Ireland men's and women's national teams, and the Sports Direct Men's FAI Cup.
Also, this summer, the 2026 FIFA World Cup in USA, Mexico, and Canada kicks off on 11 June featuring 48 teams, and with all 104 matches live and free-to-air on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
The forthcoming live men's UEFA Champions League fixture on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player will be next Wednesday's semi-final second leg between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.
The first leg on Tuesday finished in a nine-goal thriller in Paris .
Watch Lyon v Arsenal in the UEFA Women's Champions League semi-finals on Saturday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts .
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Source: This article was originally published by RTÉ News
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