Vardy Acquires Bundesliga Broadcast
- Banijay Entertainment has acquired rights for Jamie Vardy to stream seven Bundesliga Friday matches live in the UK and Ireland via his YouTube channel.
- The broadcasts form part of a new digital sports brand called Players Network, whose first show — Jamie Vardy's Having a Party — launched with the 2026–27 Bundesliga season opener
- Vardy, 39 and currently without a club after leaving Cremonese, co-presented the opening fixture with Christian Fuchs; the financial terms of the rights deal have not been
Jamie Vardy, the former England striker, has acquired the rights to broadcast seven Bundesliga Friday-evening fixtures live in the United Kingdom and Ireland — an unexpected foray into sports media for a player only recently retired from professional football.
Banijay and Players Network behind the deal
The rights have been purchased by Banijay Entertainment, which launched a digital sports brand called Players Network in June 2026. The venture's first production is a format titled Jamie Vardy's Having a Party, in which Vardy and prominent guests accompany, commentate on, and analyse matches in what is described as an entertaining rather than conventional broadcast style. The 64th Bundesliga season opened on Friday evening with FC Bayern Munich against VfB Stuttgart, and that fixture was among the first to air on Vardy's YouTube channel under the new arrangement. Former Austria and Leicester City defender Christian Fuchs co-presented the opening broadcast alongside Vardy, according to the source material.
What the rights holder says
Rick Murray, managing director of Workerbee — the Banijay label behind the project — said in a statement: "Fans don't just want to watch football any more; they want to experience it alongside people they already know and trust. Jamie has built an incredible community around his podcast, and through our Bundesliga partnership we can bring some of the biggest matches to that audience." Murray added, with apparent levity: "The one thing we can't promise is fewer arguments about VAR."
Vardy's football career and current status
Vardy, 39, is currently without a club after leaving Italian side Cremonese at the end of the 2025–26 season. He remains one of the most celebrated figures in Premier League history, having led Leicester City to a wholly unexpected league title in 2016 and an FA Cup triumph five years later. He earned 26 caps for England, notably making his international debut only at the age of 28. His transition into media follows a pattern of high-profile former players building audience-first broadcast operations, though the scale and commercial terms of the Bundesliga arrangement have not been disclosed publicly. Whether the venture will extend beyond the seven contracted Friday fixtures remains unclear from the available material. The broader Bundesliga season itself is generating considerable attention, with key figures such as Florian Wirtz already under scrutiny at international level.
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