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FOOTBALL

Swedish firm pips Canal Plus to Premier League rights

A niche Swedish sports rights consultancy has snagged the exclusive rights to broadcast English Premier League football matches in Sweden and the rest of the Nordic region from media giant Canal Plus.

Stockholm-based Medge Consulting edged out Canal Plus, current broadcaster of matches from England’s top league, for the right to air Premier League matches in the Nordic region for the next three seasons.

“We are both pleased and proud to have secured for Medge Consulting what are arguably the most prestigious football rights in the world today”, Peter Liljestrand, co-owner of Medge Consulting, said in a statement.

“The Nordic region has a strong connection and history with the Premier League and we are keen to maintain this close association going into the future.”

Liljestrand, a former Canal Plus executive, founded Medge in 2007 along with television sports veteran Timothy Smart.

According to the Svenska Dagblaget (SvD) newspaper, Medge paid roughly €100 million ($144 million) to land the exclusive rights for live Premier League broadcasts, as well as all repeats, highlights, news rights, mobile and internet rights for the Nordic region.

Liljestrand, however, refused to confirm the deal’s price tag.

“I’m not going to comment on any information about the price. But we have independent foreign capital to back the entire deal,” Liljestrand told the newspaper.

Medge is now set to begin negotiations for how the rights will be distributed across various broadcasters in the Nordic countries.

Liljestrand also indicated to SvD that Medge is interested in pursuing broadcast rights for matches from the top football leagues in Italy and Spain.

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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