By David Gold
November 18 – CONCACAF has signed agreements with Telemundo and Universal Sports Network to show both the continent’s women’s and men’s 2012 Olympic football qualifying tournaments.
The men’s tournament is being held between March 22 and April 2, 2012, with the winners of those two games both qualifying for London 2012.
The women’s contest, from January 19 to 29, will be held in Vancouver, Canada at BC Place, with each finalist again qualifying for the Olympics.
Telemundo will be showing exclusive Spanish-language television coverage of both tournaments in the USA, and Universal Sports Network will show exclusive English language footage of all games featuring the Americans, as well as the finals from each tournament.
“We are extremely pleased that our Olympic qualifying tournaments will be seen on Universal Sports Network and Telemundo,” said CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer.
“With their focus on Olympic sports, we have no doubt that both networks will serve as a great platform for fans to watch our teams attempt to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.”
Emilio Romano, President of Telemundo Media, said: “Building on the momentum of our landmark FIFA World Cup acquisition for 2015-2022, we are excited to have been selected as the new home of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers.
“This new deal further expands Deportes Telemundo’s footprint in sports programming and reinforces our commitment to our audience to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of the most popular and loved sport in the world.”
Universal Sports Networks chief executive David Sternberg added: “This exciting new partnership with CONCACAF demonstrates the high calibre of global sporting events available on Universal Sports, and strengthens our already robust portfolio of Olympic-related programming.
“The CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournaments are a natural fit with our programming strategy as we build towards the 2012 Games in London.”
The CONCACAF men’s qualifying tournament will be contested between the US, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama, with the final two teams to be decided later this month between Trinidad and Tobago, Surinam, Cuba and St Kitts and Nevis.
Hosts Britain, Brazil, Uruguay, Spain, Switzerland and Belarus are the only qualifiers for London 2012’s men’s football tournament to date.
In the women’s tournament, eight teams are competing in two groups: Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba and Haiti in Group A, and the US, Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic in Group B.
As well as the hosts, those nations participating in the women’s tournament will include Japan, North Korea, South Africa, Cameroon, Brazil, Cameroon, Sweden and France.
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