Portuguese clubs must sell audiovisual rights together

At the Portugal Football Summit in Oeiras on 23 September, Liga Portugal president Reinaldo Teixeira set out the order for selling Portuguese football’s television rights: production first, domestic rights next, international rights after that. Record and CNN Portugal reported his three-stage plan, which he said should be completed by 2027. The sequence puts the work of producing matches ahead of the domestic and overseas sales, giving clubs and potential buyers a timetable for the negotiations still to come.

From 2028/29, clubs in Portugal’s first and second divisions will have to sell their audiovisual rights together, replacing individual negotiations with a shared pool. That gives the league a chance to bargain for its competitions as one product and distribute more income beyond the clubs that attract the largest audiences. If the proceeds grow and reach clubs across both divisions, they could fund stronger squads, better facilities and a more compelling contest for supporters and broadcasters abroad. The promise is not automatic: clubs are already divided over how the proceeds should be shared, and the sales must still deliver value.

The legal change reaches beyond the top flight. The requirement followed an agreement between the Portuguese Football Federation and Liga Portugal, then a government decree in 2021.

Preparing that change has taken several years. A company to organise the centralisation process was formed in late 2021, with the task of seeking agreement among professional clubs and preparing the tender specifications, according to reporting by A Bola. The shared sale is therefore not simply a new contract: clubs have had to settle how the commercial offer will be put together before it reaches potential buyers.

The clubs’ commercial model cleared a major hurdle in June 2026, when the professional-club companies approved it by majority vote at a general meeting. Benfica voted against, while one company abstained. That vote established a common framework for the forthcoming sales, but it did not erase the disagreement over how the proceeds should be allocated. The difference between agreeing to sell together and agreeing on the split is now central to the debate.

The value of selling together will depend on whether the package earns more than the separate deals it replaces. Liga Portugal executive director André Mosqueira do Amaral has described the current system as fragmented, with fixed payments that have changed little over time. The League believes collective rights hold greater value than individual agreements capture, and is studying how to package them; it has not yet announced the tender’s design, Record reported in June.

The proposed distribution would also replace fixed sums with variable allocations, based on clear criteria including sporting performance and each club’s contribution to the competition. Liga Portugal’s proposal allocates 90% of proceeds to the first division and 10% to the second, giving second-division clubs a defined share of the collective sale while leaving most revenue with the top flight. That gives clubs a route to increase their share, rather than locking them into the same payment. Mosqueira do Amaral told Lusa that the change could cut inequality between clubs to less than half its current level—a projection, not a result already achieved.

Moving from a fixed model to a variable one will give everyone the possibility of improving their situation. When we compare the level of inequality today, it will, in effect, fall to less than half of what it is now.

Braga president António Salvador sees wider distribution as a way to build better teams and improve facilities, but says revenue alone is not enough. Clubs need a sustainable economic model to turn extra income into lasting investment.

Centralisation will not help us if it does not come with a sustainable economic model. Better pitches and better training conditions are needed so that the money brings clubs better facilities.

There are early signs of interest in the sale, though not yet evidence of what buyers will pay. Teixeira said Sport TV and TVI, the current domestic rights-holders, were satisfied with the process, and that other Portuguese and international operators were interested. He also told O Jogo that he had heard recognition abroad of the quality of Portugal’s competitions.

England offers a comparison, but Portugal’s approved top-flight formula puts less weight on equal distribution. In Portugal, 57.5 per cent of the funds is linked to sporting success, including final league position, recent results and contribution to the UEFA ranking. A fifth is shared equally, while 17.5 per cent reflects average stadium attendance and television audiences. Smaller portions account for broadcast facilities, pitch quality, lighting and conditions for media work.

A Bola has described the Premier League’s collective domestic-rights system as successful; half of its broadcast revenue is divided equally among its clubs. The rest is allocated according to league position and how often each team’s matches are shown live in England, according to reporting by A Bola. In 2022/23, every club received the same €104 million from the equal-share portion; total rights income ranged from Southampton’s €121 million to Manchester City’s €206 million, Marca reported.

The contrast is clear: Portugal reserves 20 per cent of its top-flight allocation for an equal share, against half of the Premier League’s domestic broadcast revenue. Portugal’s larger performance-linked component rewards results, while its audience and facilities measures also recognise clubs’ contribution to the broadcast product. The English figures show that equal sharing can sit alongside substantial differences in total receipts; they do not show what Portuguese clubs will earn under a system that has yet to go to market.

Benfica accepts that collective bargaining makes sense for many Portuguese clubs, but rejects the approved distribution formula. The club says it could lose more than €20 million a year, and contends that one formula fails to reflect the wider social reach of its contribution. In August, president Rui Costa submitted a petition asking parliament to pause the system until an independent technical, economic and legal review is completed, then reconsider its design.

We deeply believe that, for the vast majority of clubs in Portugal, bringing their rights together and negotiating them collectively makes complete sense. But we do not believe it makes sense to do everything the same way for everyone and then create an artificial formula that does not reflect the product’s social dimension, which extends beyond football.

The League says it will continue to follow the law requiring centralisation from 2028/29. Its answer is that the sale can leave every club better off, rather than that Benfica’s concerns are groundless. Football commentator Pedro Ângelo also sees the potential for stronger competition and better match presentation, with more clubs able to sign and keep good players. But he cautions that future television income cannot, by itself, make the sport financially sustainable.

We are talking about interest from Sport TV and TVI, and international operators too. We believe we will have a happy ending. I am convinced everyone will receive more.

The case for sharing income is sharpened by the gap between clubs. A Bola reported in September 2025 that the club earning the most from television—usually Benfica—could receive as much as 15 times the amount going to the lowest earner. The new system is meant to narrow that divide, but the value of a shared sale will also depend on how buyers compete for the rights.

Portugal’s Competition Authority gave the model a positive opinion in June, saying it was broadly aligned with competition principles. The Authority called for competitive, transparent and periodic rights awards, with multiple buyers able to acquire and exploit content. Those safeguards matter because a single league-wide package could otherwise concentrate too much power in one operator.

The regulator said the model includes lots and rules designed to ensure at least two significant operators can exploit the content. The challenge is therefore not only to sell Portuguese football collectively, but to do so in a way that preserves choice for viewers as well as bargaining strength for clubs.

At Oeiras, Reinaldo Teixeira set out a route from production to domestic and overseas sales. The first test is whether the market turns that timetable into a deal before the new system begins in 2028/29.

• Production auction: Teixeira’s accounts place it by the end of 2026 or early January.
• Domestic rights sale: planned for between January and March 2027.
• International rights: to follow, with completion targeted by 2027; the collective system is due to take effect in 2028/29.