FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - DFL Executive Committee Spokesman Hans-Joachim Watzke sees the billion-euro result from the German Football League's TV rights auction as a "strong signal" to European competitors. It is a result that "will make the whole of Europe sit up and take notice", said Watzke during the DFL press conference. The DFL will receive a total of €4.484 billion for the 2025/26 to 2028/29 seasons.

"Nobody thought we could achieve that in this market environment," said Watzke. He is therefore looking forward to next week's meeting of the Executive Committee of the European Football Union UEFA, at which representatives of many leagues will come together. He has already been congratulated by "one or two insiders from abroad", said Watzke.

Next step: more money from abroad

The DFL will receive 84 million euros more than in the current agreements. In terms of national media rights, this is still the "second-strongest media contract of all soccer leagues worldwide", said DFL Managing Director Steffen Merkel. The British Premier League, which collects almost two billion euros per season from the sale of national TV rights, is clearly in the lead.

The DFL result is "already a strong signal", said Watzke. The next step would be to "try with all our might to increase the foreign tickets". To date, the DFL had generated an amount in the low three-digit million range with the rights abroad. The management is working "intensively" on this, said Watzke, who is hoping for "significant success"./mj/DP/ngu