The unprecedented increase in illegal broadcasts of sporting events, especially football matches, together with the low effectiveness of actions against piracy, is severely punishing the audiovisual sector.

LaLiga has published a study on piracy in Spain and the data is chilling: in 2024, 10.8 million notifications were registered to digital intermediaries for unauthorized broadcasts, while in the first six months of 2025 alone this figure has skyrocketed to 26.2 million notifications.

International Comparison: the figures for the rest of Europe

What figures are recorded by the rest of the major European football leagues? Below we analyze the scope of illegal broadcasts in England, Germany and Italy:

Premier League: Leader in actions but limited data

The Premier League, traditionally a pioneer in the fight against piracy, blocked more than 600,000 illegal streams during the 2022-23 season, tripling the figures from 2019 when 210,000 broadcasts were eliminated.

"According to data from the first quarter of 2025, 59% of people in the United Kingdom who stated that they had seen pirated material accessed illegal sports content."

However, we do not yet have the most recent data on the impact of piracy in the last year. The British market has particular characteristics: modified Fire Stick devices account for approximately half of all football piracy in the United Kingdom.

Bundesliga: scarce data but significant investment

Players of Borussia Dortmund celebrate a goal in the match against Freiburg in the Bundesliga

The Bundesliga maintains a low profile in terms of public statistics on piracy. The German league secured its audiovisual rights for 4,484 million euros for the 2025-2029 cycle between Sky and DAZN, representing an increase of 2% compared to the previous cycle. However, no specific data has been published on the volume of piracy or its evolution in 2025.

International collaboration is evident: LaLiga, Premier League and Bundesliga joined forces together with the Coalition against Piracy to achieve the blocking of 22 illegal streaming websites and 70 associated domains in the courts of Singapore.

Serie A: the Italian case with a punitive approach

Italy presents a particularly worrying picture: 38% of Italians used illegal audiovisual content in 2024. This figure represents estimated losses of 2.2 billion euros in turnover, with a direct loss of 904 million euros and more than 12,000 jobs.

The Italian response has been forceful and punitive. Between March and April 2025, the authorities identified and fined 2,282 individuals in 80 Italian provinces for illegal streaming of copyrighted content, particularly football. The fines ranged between 154 and 1,032 euros, based on a law that treats copyright infringement administratively rather than criminally.

The CEO of Serie A, Luigi De Siervo, has been especially clear about the impact: "piracy deprives the system of more than 300 million euros a year for Serie A alone". This figure translates directly into a lower capacity to sign elite players and develop youth programs.

A problem of European scope

The final conclusion shows that sports piracy in Europe presents a heterogeneous but universally worrying picture. LaLiga faces the most critical situation, while Italy shows the highest rates of illegal consumption (38% of the population) but also the most energetic responses at the legal level.

If you are interested in this topic and need more information, below is the direct link to the report prepared by the auditor Grant Thornton in collaboration with Live Content Coalition for LaLiga.