Three cafes convicted for ‘illegal’ football broadcasts on TV

Three cafes in Bornem, Turnhout and Maasmechelen have been convicted for broadcasting football matches without a catering license. They must pay damages plus legal costs to the rights holder Eleven-DAZN.

The Antwerp corporate court based its decision on findings by bailiffs. Two cafes have been sentenced to compensation of 2,230.75 euros, one to 2,830.15 euros. The legal costs add more than 1,000 euros on top of that.

The catering license has been mandatory since the summer of 2022. Depending on their size, catering establishments must pay fees of 70 to 150 euros per month. Initially there was a transition period, but last year Eleven-DAZN started to legally prosecute the most unruly cafes. There are also cases in Brussels, Liège and Charleroi.

Eleven Sports acquired the rights to the Jupiler Pro League in 2020 for 103 million euros per year. The company first had to deal with the corona crisis and rising costs, which meant it barely made a profit. In 2022, it was acquired by DAZN, an international platform that wants to become the “Netflix of sports”. Catering licenses are common in some neighboring countries, but were new to Belgium.