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TEN Sports acquires Australia's Hyundai A-League

Through this deal, the Australian football league will now be available in Indian sub-continent

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BS Reporter Mumbai
Last Updated : May 07 2014 | 1:24 PM IST
Sports broadcaster TEN Sports has signed an exclusive three-year deal to broadcast the Hyundai A-League, Australia's premier football league live from the 2014-15 to 2016-17 season. The league will be available across the TEN Network on TEN Action, TEN Sports and TEN HD with live-streaming on tensports.com.

The league which is run by the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) has ten teams, nine from Australia and one from New Zealand. TEN Sports will showcase 86 matches per season including the five games of the final Series playoffs. It will also broadcast weekly highlights of the league and 10 games of the FFA Cup for each of the three seasons. World Sport Group, who distribute the Hyundai A-League and FFA Cup worldwide on behalf of the FFA, brokered the TEN Sports deal.

Through this deal, the Australian football league will now be available in countries like India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Rajesh Sethi, CEO, TEN Sports said, "Australian football has grown leaps and bounds and offers to Ten Sports & Ten Action a different dimension to our existing portfolio. A lot of top stars have started plying their trade in theA-League and we will closely work to promote the A-League, its teams and players across the Indian subcontinent. We also take this opportunity to wish the Football Federation of Australia and the Australian National Team the best for the World Cup in Rio."

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David Gallop, CEO, FFA said, "This is fantastic news for Australian football and deepens our engagementwith the Asian region. The A-League is in the top three professionalcompetitions in Asia for playing standard and sporting entertainment,and there's a growing audience in the region keen to follow our clubs and marquee players. Australian football is enjoying a huge period of growth and that's reflected in our global TV reach, which includes important broadcasters in Europe, North America and Asia."

ach season of the Hyundai A-Leaguer uns from October to April and includes a 27-round regular seasonwith an end-of-season finals series playoff tournament involving thehighest-placed teams, culminating in the Grand Final.

Winners fromthe A-League qualify for the AFC Champions League which is the UEFAChampions League equivalent in Asia. The League allows each team tohave a marquee player and this has led to stars like Alessandro Del  Piero, Shinji Ono and Emile Heskey showcasing their skills in thisfast-growing league.

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First Published: May 07 2014 | 12:54 PM IST

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