Facebook to stream live Champions League football after striking deal with Fox Sports

Facebook has made its way into the world of the Champions League after striking a deal with American broadcasters Fox Sports to stream over a dozen matches from Europe's premier club competition next season.

The social network's deal with Fox allows them to broadcast matches from the group stage, last-16 and quarter-finals on their website. Facebook are hoping the games, which will include the best teams in world football such as Real Madrid and Barcelona, will convince sponsors to shell out more money in order to advertise on the network. Neither Facebook or Fox saw fit to reveal the financial terms of the deal.

"There are more matches in English and Spanish than we have networks to air them on," Fox Sports' head of business operations David Nathanson was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. "Facebook has one of the most social soccer audiences on the web, and this is going to expose the Champions' League to fans who aren't tuning into a game on TV."

Facebook's head of global sports partnerships, Dan Reed, added: "We're excited to help Fox reach new audiences, people consuming content on digital, mobile and social. We're bullish on soccer."

Facebook has been dabbling in the world of live sports streaming for some time. Their broadcast of Wayne Rooney's testimonial grabbed the attention of 3.7m users last summer, and earlier this year they struck a deal with Univision and Major League Soccer to stream live MLS action. They also have a deal with Univision to broadcast matches from Liga MX, Mexico's top football division.