Australian football fans won’t need to change streaming services for domestic football any time soon, though they may need to adjust expectations around what is staying on free to air television.
Just days out from the A-Leagues Grand Final, Paramount+ and Network 10 have announced a new three year extension with the Australian Professional Leagues, keeping every match live on streaming while reducing the men’s free-to-air offering to one weekly game.
Despite Paramount and APL promoting the renewal as the strongest free to air outcome following a broader market process involving rival broadcasters, the new agreement still further scales back weekly men’s television coverage, with financial terms not disclosed.
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Paramount Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) today announced a three-year extension of their media rights partnership, keeping Paramount+ as the exclusive streaming home of Australian football.
A-League viewing on Paramount+ is at record levels in the 2025/26 season, up 55% since the 2021/22 season. Across Paramount+ and Network 10, the A-League season has already reached 4 million Australians on streaming and broadcast TV ahead of the Final Series.
Under the renewed agreement, every Isuzu UTE A-League Men’s match and every Ninja A-League Women’s match will be available live on Paramount+, making it the only place to watch all the action as it happens.
Network 10 will complement this with free-to-air access, broadcasting one men’s match per week and ten women’s matches per season, including the Grand Final.
Every Ninja A-League Women’s match will also stream live and free on 10 Streaming. Marquee men’s games will air on 10’s primary channel.
Fans on Paramount+ will also have access to minis, highlights and replays of every match. Network 10 will host Football Tonight, their pre-game show ahead of every free-to-air match, while the A-Leagues’ popular Total A-Leagues and DubZone shows will be available on 10 Streaming.
Adam Cush, Director of Sport, Paramount Australia and New Zealand, said:
“We are incredibly proud to continue our partnership with the Australian Professional Leagues and to build on the strong foundation we have established together.”
“The A-Leagues’ future in this country is bright, and we are determined to play our part in expanding its reach, growing its audience and giving football the platform it deserves.”
Steve Rosich, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Professional Leagues, said:
“After an extensive open market process that showcased the demand and value of the A-Leagues, we are really pleased to renew our partnership with Paramount+ and Network 10, the home of Australian football.”
“The process confirmed that Paramount+ and Network 10 provide us with not just a strong commercial outcome, but the greatest free-to-air exposure of any alternative offering, with Paramount+ delivering the reach and affordability that football fans deserve.”
Paramount+ is the only place to watch every game live. The platform’s football offering includes:
- All CommBank Matildas and key CommBank Socceroos matches
- Every Isuzu UTE A-League Men’s and Ninja A-League Women’s match
- The AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027
- The FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027
- The Winter Festival of Football in July, featuring an extraordinary lineup of matches across three iconic tournaments, headlined by the prestigious Sydney Super Cup
Paramount+ subscription plans start from $7.99 per month or $70.99 per year.
The 2026/27 Isuzu UTE A-League and Ninja A-League seasons will kick off on 16 October 2026.
Source: Virtual Australia, OzTAM, Regional TAM, Cumulative Reach 2025-26 season (Men and Women’s) to May including Paramount+ incremental unique viewers.
So from two FTA games now only one.
And it’s stated every match will continue with the pre show🤔 totally incorrect only 3 of the 6 games have been getting a pre show
If ongoing they keep Tara “ what do you think team” Rushton , then they are doomed
It’s Krap,glitches so much the games end ten minutes after the actual endings.
Better to invest in Stan Sports to see a proper soccer league, not one going backwards
HOW ABOUT THE MEN’S GRAND FINAL ??
WHY AREN’T YOU SHOWING IT ON FREE TO AIR TV ON SAT 23/5/2026 ????
* How come after showing every Saturday night an Aleague match all season – YOU ARE NOT SHOWING AUCKLAND V SYDNEY GF ??
IS THE ANSWER A 🍍🍍🍍 PINEAPPLE CHANNEL 10 or do you want us to subscribe to Paramount ????
Answer please ….
Ross,
It is on Channel 10 in Melbourne anyway
For a game that needs supporters you really are doing a shit job , who watches this ?
It would be very sad to see the knockouts and semi-finals being shown exclusively to Paramount+. I just feel that the sporting organisations puts profits over fans. They don’t care about the state of the game, they care about money. WIthout it, soccer fans would suffer. We saw what happened with Channel 9’s Milano Cortina Winter Olympics with every event shown exclusively to Stan Sport, with Nine focusing on Australian athletes.
This league is cooked
Michael Anselmi I don’t watch Australian soccer only the World Cup it is not very popular SBS used to have those games long time ago?
I can understand it . When free to sir bid for afl and nrl rights years ago the networks were worth more now as the nrl wants almost 5 billion dollars for the rights the 9 network is worth less than 2 and seven less than 300 million. The networks can’t carry that and sport will break them yet sports needs them. But f they dump sport no body will pay for nrl in n kayo the sports will cool themselves. Sport has got greedy and they are punishing the viewers
Sean Keppie give channel 10 afl on Saturday again please can we have 10 channel 10 consider this as well as every race of theV8 if they want more viewers?
We need afl on Saturday on channel 10 again people want more free television broadcast of the afl maybe 10 could give Foxtel money if they don’t have soccer anymore considering I like afl