EFL and SPFL probe suspected illegal Russia broadcasts as rights battle escalates

The English Football League (EFL) and Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) have launched investigations and are weighing legal action after discovering that live television coverage of their matches has been shown in Russia this season without authorised broadcast rights.

Football TV, a Russian subscription and streaming platform, has carried multiple games from the opening two rounds of the EFL, as well as Scottish Premiership fixtures involving Celtic, Rangers and Hearts. The games have appeared despite both leagues having halted all sanctioned coverage in Russia more than two years ago.

Rights suspended since 2022 invasion of Ukraine

The EFL and SPFL stopped broadcasting in Russia in March 2022, following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine the previous month. Since then, neither league has sold rights packages in the country, leaving Russia without an official domestic distributor for these competitions.

Until the invasion, the EFL held a rights contract with Football TV for coverage in the Russian market, while Scottish Premiership matches were shown on Match TV. Those commercial relationships were suspended as part of the wider football response to the conflict, alongside a range of measures implemented by national and international governing bodies.

The Premier League took the same step at that time, suspending its broadcasts in Russia, where its rights had been held by Okko Sport. The coordinated moves removed some of the most-watched European competitions from the Russian television schedule and underlined how media rights have become a key tool in football’s response to geopolitical crises.

Fresh broadcasts spark formal complaint

The issue has re‑emerged this season after Football TV began showing new live feeds of EFL and Scottish Premiership matches despite having no current rights to do so.

The EFL contacted Football TV last week after being alerted that several games, including Cardiff’s 1-1 draw with Wrexham last Monday and Watford’s 2-1 win over Southampton the previous day, had been broadcast in Russia. Despite that complaint, Football TV then showed further live coverage of West Ham v Charlton and West Brom v Burnley over the subsequent weekend.

Those fixtures were described by the Russian platform as test events, a designation that has heightened concern within English and Scottish football that the service may be preparing to expand its use of unlicensed feeds. There are particular fears that any continuation could extend to content from the Premier League, which commands some of the most valuable media rights in global sport.

Scottish Premiership coverage promoted on Telegram

Alongside the EFL matches, several Scottish Premiership games have been shown over the past two weekends, with the broadcasts advertised on Football TV’s Telegram channel. The use of social media promotion highlights how swiftly pirated or unauthorised content can be marketed to fans in blackout territories once a stable technical source has been found.

For clubs such as Celtic, Rangers and Hearts, whose European participation and international fanbases are important pillars of their commercial strategies, the re‑emergence of unlicensed coverage in a former rights territory carries reputational and financial risks. However, the central contractual relationship remains between the SPFL and its official international distribution partners, rather than between individual clubs and Football TV.

Leagues hunt source of pirated feeds

Both the EFL and SPFL believe the matches being shown in Russia have been obtained and televised illegally. Their immediate priority is to stop the broadcasts, while in parallel they are working to identify the origin of the live feeds being supplied to Football TV.

In practical terms, that means two tracks of work:

• technical monitoring to trace the signal path of the pirated content and shut down any unauthorised access points to official broadcast feeds
• legal review of existing contracts and territorial restrictions to prepare potential enforcement steps against any parties found to be facilitating the streams

An SPFL source said the league was investigating the matter alongside its broadcasting distribution rights holder, Infront. That relationship is central to how Scottish top‑flight matches are packaged and sold internationally, and any sustained piracy in a non‑licensed market can complicate ongoing negotiations with legitimate partners in other territories.

Both organisations are understood to reserve the right to take legal action against Football TV and any third parties supplying it with access to their matches. For leagues whose finances are heavily underpinned by media income, the integrity of territorial exclusivity remains a core commercial and regulatory concern.

Commercial and regulatory stakes for English and Scottish football

Media rights are one of the main revenue streams for both competitions. In the EFL’s case, income from domestic and international broadcasting helps underpin solidarity payments and central distributions that support 72 professional clubs across its three divisions. Any erosion of rights value, whether through piracy or unauthorised foreign broadcasts, feeds back into the resources available for player recruitment, academy investment and stadium operations throughout the pyramid.

For the SPFL, where broadcast and sponsorship deals are critical to the financial stability of member clubs, unlicensed overseas coverage can dilute the value of future rights sales and complicate efforts to grow legitimate international audiences. It also risks undermining confidence among authorised broadcasters that exclusivity in their territory will be enforced.

The situation also touches on regulatory expectations. Competitions such as the EFL and SPFL typically operate under detailed broadcast frameworks that set out territorial rights, anti‑piracy obligations and enforcement mechanisms. These sit alongside wider governance structures such as the EFL’s formal regulations, which, while primarily focused on competition integrity and club conduct, frame how media and commercial arrangements are managed.

Impact on fans and future rights cycles

For viewers inside Russia, the return of English and Scottish club football to local screens, even via unauthorised means, underlines the enduring demand for these competitions despite official blackouts. However, any short‑term access through pirated streams sits uncomfortably alongside the wider policy decisions that led to the withdrawal of sanctioned coverage in 2022.

From the leagues’ perspective, how swiftly they are able to shut down the broadcasts and secure their feeds will be watched closely by current and prospective rights holders in other regions. Robust action can strengthen the hand of the EFL and SPFL in upcoming media negotiations by demonstrating that territorial protections will be actively defended.

The EFL and SPFL have declined to comment publicly while their investigations continue, but the escalation of the matter into potential legal proceedings underscores how questions of access, territory and enforcement around live sport are now inseparable from the broader governance of the professional game.