BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Facebook has secured rights to provide live streams of the Copa Libertadores - South America's top club competition - as it expands its global sports broadcasting portfolio.
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said on Friday that its flagship annual club tournament would be shown on the social media platform on a free-to-air basis from 2019 to 2022.
"We are very happy to add Facebook, the social network with the greatest reach in South America and the world, as one of our partners for the transmission of our prestigious Copa Libertadores," said CONMEBOL club commercial director Juan Emilio Roa.
"This alliance with Facebook is another step in our effort to bring football to the last corner of South America."
The announcement comes less than two months after Facebook signed a deal to show UEFA Champions League matches in Latin American Spanish-speaking countries from 2018 to 2021.
Under terms of the Copa Libertadores deal, Facebook will broadcast 46 games a year in nine countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Twenty-seven of the fixtures will be aired exclusively on Facebook Watch on Thursday nights.
The remaining matches - on Tuesdays and Wednesdays - will also be shown by pay-TV rights holders Fox Sports.
In Brazil, Facebook will only show Thursday night games, with matches on other days to be broadcast by Fox and Globo.
The final will be streamed on Facebook in all CONMEBOL member countries except Brazil.
"We want to bring this experience to the widest possible audience, allowing fans to get together to watch live games easily, and we hope that this partnership with CONMEBOL will help reinvent the experience of watching football," Facebook's global vice president of sports Dan Reed said.
