Belarus football federation head: No payments in yet for sold TV rights

The Belarusian Football Federation (BFF) is yet to receive money for the TV broadcasting rights to screen the matches of Belarus' Vysheyshaya Liga (Premier League), BFF head Uladzimir Bazanau said on the Sport-Kadr program on the TV channel Belarus 5.

The Belarusian football championship is the only top professional tournament going on in Europe. All other countries on the continent have halted their leagues over the COVID19 pandemic. With Belarus being one of only 4 professional football tournaments active in the world, sports TV channels from more than 10 countries have moved to purchase the rights to screen the football matches in Belarus.

Mr. Bazanau denied rumors that one of the Russian channels had paid $210 000 for TV rights. According to him, this is an exaggerated figure: "There are small sums of money for every match. It's just that someone came up with such a large sum, named it, and everyone thinks that we're making a lot of money now. No! What matters to us, first of all, is that Belarus is now recognized everywhere in the world." The head of the federation did not name the real amount citing commercial confidentiality.

If the championship is stopped, the BFF will be obliged to return some of the money received for the broadcasting rights. "But no one has ever transferred anything to us yet. Our contract says we will have to receive payments later," Bazanau said.

In addition to the matches of the top league, the Football Federation is now trying to sell the rights to show the matches in the lower division - Piersaja Liga (First League).