EBU Members will show comprehensive live coverage of two of women’s sport’s most-anticipated events in July: football’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 and cycling’s inaugural Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

Coverage of the two events reflects the unrivalled commitment of Eurovision Sport and EBU Members to the development of women’s sport across the EBU’s territories. That is being reinforced this year with a promotional campaign designed to help shift perceptions of the women’s game.

In 2020-21, EBU Members broadcast over 3,500 hours of women’s and mixed sport from more than 200 women’s and mixed sport competitions, events and leagues. Those broadcasts covered more than 40 different sports on the domestic and international stage.

The UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 and the Tour de France Femmes are just two events among an exciting line-up of women’s and mixed sport events being broadcast this summer by EBU Members, as sport’s governing bodies move towards full gender equality across all of their events, with the help of free-to-air TV, digital and radio coverage.

Others include: swimming’s FINA World Championships in Budapest which finished on 3 July, and European Aquatics Championships in Rome on 11-21 August; the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA on 15-24 July; and the second edition of the multi-sport European Championships in Munich on 11-21 August.

UEFA Women’s EURO 2022

The unprecedented summer of top women’s sport on free-to-air TV continues with the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, taking place in England from 6 to 31 July.

Over 30 EBU Members have committed to offering extensive coverage of the tournament across Europe, while EBU Members will also exchange video news content of the competition via the EBU’s Eurovision Sports News Exchange.

Among the EBU Members that will be covering the tournament are:

BHRT (Bosnia-Herzegovina); BNT (Bulgaria); DR (Denmark); ERR (Estonia); GPB (Georgia); HRT (Croatia); LRT (Lithuania); MKRTV (North Macedonia); MTVA (Hungary); NOS (Netherlands); NRK (Norway); ORF (Austria); PBS (Malta); Public TV Armenia; RAI (Italy); RTBF (Belgium); RTE (Ireland); RTP (Portugal); RTS (Serbia); RTSH (Albania); RTV (Slovakia); RTV (Slovenija); RUV (Iceland); SRG SSR (Switzerland); SVT (Sweden); TRT (Turkey); TV2 (Denmark) TV2 (Norway); TVE (Spain); TVP (Poland); TVR (Romania); UA:PBC (Ukraine); VRT (Belgium); and YLE (Finland).

EBU Member the BBC will offer comprehensive coverage of the tournament in the host country, while EBU Members ARD and ZDF will show the competition in Germany, in deals negotiated directly with UEFA.

Through Eurovision Sport, additional distribution deals are in place with the likes of Qazsport (Kazakstan), RTK (Kosovo) and TV4 (Sweden).

EBU Members’ coverage will in many cases benefit from their participation in the EBU Academy’s pioneering EBU School of Talents UEFA Women’s EURO England 2022 course, which urged participants, including commentators and producers, to ‘make a difference’ through four modules with the themes: Storytelling; Digital Platforms; Creativity; Community.

Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift

Cycling’s revived and reformatted women’s Tour de France, the Tour de France Femmes, begins on 24 July and culminates, like the Women’s EURO, on 31 July. And like the Women’s EURO, EBU Members will be covering the race like never before!

The Tour de France Femmes features eight days of stage racing, beginning as the men’s race finishes with a stage on the iconic Champs-Élysées in Paris.

EBU Members covering the race will include:

RTBF (Belgium); VRT (Belgium); TV2 (Denmark); TG4 (Ireland); NOS (Netherlands); TV2 (Norway); TVE (Spain); and SRG SSR (Switzerland).

Additionally, EBU Members France Télévisions (France) and ARD (Germany) will offer coverage of the race in deals negotiated directly with rights owner ASO, while Eurovision Sport has also negotiated coverage by Eurosport and Global Cycling Network across Europe.

Each of the eight stages will benefit from two and a half hours of live production, as 24 teams of six riders each compete to crown the inaugural winner of the Tour de France Femmes at the finish at La Super Planche des Belles Filles.

EBU Members will also offer extensive radio coverage, including from Radio France, which is an Official Media Partner of both the men’s and women’s races.

#AthleteFirst

Eurovision Sport is supporting EBU Members with a bespoke video promoting their coverage of women’s sport with the hashtag #athletefirst.

The video stresses that, whether mothers or partners, straight or gay, sportswomen are athletes first, and calls for moving beyond physical attributes and gender roles to focus on women’s performance and athleticism.