Jamie Vardy Joins Bundesliga as Live Rights Holder

Jamie Vardy is swapping the penalty box for the broadcast booth – and he is doing it with the Bundesliga.

According to The Athletic’s German football correspondent Seb Stafford-Bloor, the former Leicester City and England striker has become a live rights holder for Germany’s top flight and will begin his new role with coverage of Bayern Munich vs Stuttgart later tonight.

In a landscape dominated by Premier League content, Vardy is stepping into a different lane. He will front live watchalongs of Bundesliga action with That’s Football, the channel hosted by Mark Goldbridge of The United Stand fame, bringing one of English football’s most recognisable modern forwards into a league still fighting for attention in the UK and Ireland.

This is not a random experiment from Germany. It is part of a clear push. The Bundesliga has identified two familiar English football personalities – Goldbridge from the content side and Vardy from the playing side – to act as a bridge for British and Irish viewers who might otherwise only dip into German football on Champions League nights or during transfer sagas.

Kevin Hatchard, one of the English-language commentators on the Bundesliga’s international feed, has spoken about Vardy fronting these live watchalongs, underlining how unusual – and potentially powerful – it is to have a recent Premier League title winner actively involved in presenting the league to a new audience.

For the Bundesliga, it is smart, targeted marketing. For Vardy, it is a fresh chapter: from tormenting defences to trying to hook a fanbase on a different kind of Saturday night football.