DAZN, the leading global sports streaming platform and home of the UEFA Women’s Champions League in Canada, is thrilled to announce Canadian Olympic women’s soccer gold medalist and Paris Saint-Germain star Ashley Lawrence as their newest local ambassador.
She is teaming up with DAZN through the rest of the 2021-22 UEFA Women’s Champions League season around a shared goal of leveling the playing field and elevating the women’s game.
Following Lawrence’s sensational gold medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics with the Canadian women’s national team, women’s soccer interest in Canada as well as globally is at an all-time high.
DAZN is committed to cultivating this interest through its landmark UEFA Women’s Champions League broadcast deal, which recently kicked off and has made for the first time all matches season-long available for fans to watch on DAZN and/or free on DAZN’s YouTube channel – in Canada as well as worldwide.
“I’m very excited to team up with DAZN in Canada as part of their mission to increase visibility around women’s sports and women’s football in particular,” said Lawrence. “It’s fantastic to see them leading the charge with unprecedented broadcast availability and nonstop storytelling for the Women’s Champion’s League. It’s the kind of exposure that is long overdue and I’m excited to join them in this mission to grow our sport.”
This partnership comes on the heels of a recently released research report by DAZN and the Female Quotient, which examines the inequitable sports coverage landscape (defined as broadcast, news, and social coverage) and how that translates into viewership barriers and a 30% gap between men’s sports viewership vs. women’s sports viewership. It identifies a higher frequency of coverage across the industry as well as more consistent quality in coverage and storytelling as being imperative to feed existing women’s sport interest, narrow the viewership gap, and thus contribute towards leveling the playing field.
"DAZN Canada is proud to call Ashley our local ambassador for this season of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. She is a source of inspiration both on and off the field, including her dedication to supporting and encouraging the next generation of young girls and women in sports,” said Norm Lem, SVP, DAZN Canada. “DAZN is committed to closing the sports coverage and viewership gap and we’re thrilled to have Ashley join us as a partner in this mission to take women’s soccer to new heights.”
DAZN’s coverage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League includes an official Game of The Week broadcast during each week of the fall’s group stage, and next week’s will be the French broadcast featuring Lawrence’s team PSG in their rivaled matchup against Real Madrid on Tuesday, November 9 at 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM PT. Fans worldwide will be able to enjoy an extended broadcast show, including live on-site French commentary featuring a top-notch presentation team of on-air commentators and guest stars – including French soccer legends Laura Georges and Vikash Dhorasoo - as well as coach and player interviews.
Canadians can access DAZN anywhere on any device, including living room smart TVs, PCs, mobile phones, tablets, streaming sticks and game consoles. Fans can sign up for DAZN at www.DAZN.com or by downloading the DAZN app, as well as become a subscriber to DAZN’s dedicated Women’s Champions League YouTube channel.