Football fans using illegal streams could face an increasingly difficult landscape after CANAL+ and LALIGA launched a major anti-piracy alliance covering nearly 50 countries across Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti.
The landmark agreement, announced by the two organisations on September 11, will see the global broadcaster and Spanish football body combine technology, intelligence and enforcement capabilities in an intensified campaign against networks illegally distributing sports content.
Under the partnership, CANAL+ and LALIGA will share intelligence on piracy operations, coordinate enforcement strategies and work to accelerate action against illegal distribution networks operating across several territories.
The scale of the agreement makes it one of the most ambitious collaborations yet between a major international broadcaster and a leading football competition in the battle against sports piracy.
For football audiences across Africa, the inclusion of Sub-Saharan African countries gives the agreement particular significance as illegal streaming and unauthorised redistribution of premium sports content remain major concerns for broadcasters and rights holders.
LALIGA President Javier Tebas described piracy as one of the biggest challenges confronting the future of sport, arguing that individual organisations cannot effectively fight the problem alone.
According to Tebas, combining LALIGA’s anti-piracy capabilities with CANAL+’s expertise will strengthen efforts to protect competitions, clubs and the considerable investment made by legitimate broadcasters.
The financial stakes are enormous.
Earlier this year, LALIGA estimated that piracy costs Spanish clubs approximately €600 million to €700 million every year, demonstrating why the organisation has increasingly invested in technology and partnerships designed to identify and disrupt illegal broadcasts.
CANAL+ Chief Executive Officer Maxime Saada said the scale of the new partnership reflected how seriously the company views the threat posed by piracy to the sports industry.
Saada said broadcasters, sporting organisations and other stakeholders in the audiovisual and creative industries all have responsibilities in confronting illegal content distribution.
The agreement goes beyond protecting television companies and football organisations from lost revenue.
CANAL+ and LALIGA argue that money generated from legitimate broadcasting rights ultimately contributes to the wider football ecosystem, including investment in clubs, youth development and the production required to broadcast major sporting competitions.
Piracy, they contend, therefore threatens more than copyright ownership.
It potentially reduces the commercial value of sports rights and weakens the economic model through which broadcasters invest in competitions and competitions distribute resources throughout the game.
The organisations have also highlighted the risks facing supporters who access football through illegal services.
According to the joint announcement, unauthorised platforms can expose users to threats including personal-data theft, malware and fraud, adding a consumer-protection dimension to the campaign against piracy.
The partnership represents another major step in LALIGA’s increasingly aggressive approach to illegal streaming.
In April, LALIGA announced a separate technology collaboration with Fastly aimed at developing solutions capable of detecting and eliminating pirated live streams.
The Spanish football organisation also supported the international “Tarjeta Roja” anti-piracy operation during the 2026 World Cup, an initiative that resulted in more than 1,800 domains and electronic addresses linked to illegal sports and audiovisual broadcasts being blocked across Latin America.
The latest agreement significantly expands that fight through CANAL+’s international footprint.
The two organisations already have an established commercial relationship through the distribution of Spanish football, initially in France before expanding into other European territories, Africa and Haiti.
Their new alliance now takes that relationship beyond simply delivering matches to viewers.
Instead, the two organisations will work together to protect the content itself and target networks attempting to redistribute it illegally.
With CANAL+ operating across more than 70 countries and LALIGA possessing one of football’s most valuable international broadcasting products, the partnership sends a clear message that the battle against illegal streaming is entering a more coordinated phase.
And for illegal operators distributing Spanish football across Africa and other territories covered by the agreement, CANAL+ and LALIGA are no longer fighting piracy separately — they are coming after it together.
