The Overlap to live stream Bundesliga matches

The Overlap has acquired the rights to live stream all Friday night Bundesliga games this season, in the UK and Ireland. 

Fans of German football will be able to watch these fixtures for free through the Overlap YouTube channel, starting with Bayern Munich v RB Leipzig on 22 August. The channel will also have clips and highlights from other Bundesliga fixtures through the week. The live and non-live content will have commercial partners through the season. 

The Overlap is sharing the live rights with the BBC, as well as fellow YouTube channel That’s Football, run by YouTuber Mark Goldbridge. Games will also be available through the Bundesliga’s own YouTube channel, with all four locations showing them simultaneously. 

This is the first time that The Overlap has shown live football, although it has produced live watchalongs in the past, without the rights to show the actual matches. Both fans and ex-players will be incorporated into its Bundesliga coverage, with regular content produced through the week to accompany the live fixtures such as watchalongs and analysis. 

Scott Melvin, CEO of The Overlap, said: “The Bundesliga features some of the best footballers in the world, including England’s own Harry Kane, and to be able to offer unfettered access to these matches is an incredibly exciting moment for The Overlap. We’ve become one of the leading platforms for digital sports content all without a ball being kicked, so it’s fitting that our first move into live sport is with one of the biggest leagues in the world.

“Huge thanks to Jonny Keogh and his team at YouTube, for helping to bring this partnership together”

Gary Neville, founder of The Overlap, said: “We’re delighted to bring one of the best leagues in the world to The Overlap. Ever since we started this channel, we’ve worked hard to bring viewers something exciting and we hope the introduction of Live Bundesliga action will create some amazing moments. 

“It’s another step of the journey for us and it wouldn’t be possible without all the loyal support of our audience.”

This isn’t the first time that a YouTube channel has acquired live sport rights, with YouTuber Tim Cocker among those to do so when he acquired the second tier of French rugby this year, but it is the first time a major European football league has done so. Goalhanger’s The Rest Is Football has produced highlights shows of LaLiga and the recent Club World Cup, but these were with clips rights.