Volleyball World announced the signing of a new multi-year media rights agreement with German public broadcaster ZDF. According to the official statement, the goal of the partnership is to provide German fans with free access to extensive coverage of national team matches in the most prestigious international volleyball tournaments.
Volleyball World did not specify the duration of the agreement with ZDF, with the official announcement only defining it as "multi-year". In contrast, the contract between Volleyball World and the Munich-based company SN1 Sports has a clear term and has already been extended until 2032. SN1 Sports is the exclusive consultant for the sale of volleyball media rights in a number of European markets and played a key role in securing the partnership with ZDF.
According to the official statement, ZDF will broadcast the vast majority of matches of the German men's and women's national teams in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL). Additionally, the public broadcaster will expand its volleyball coverage both on its digital platform ZDF Mediathek and in its public television programs.
Volleyball World further specifies that this summer ZDF will offer viewers selected matches of the German national teams in the VNL, which will be available both on television and through the broadcaster's digital platforms.
Felix von Knorring, Head of Media at Volleyball World, described the agreement as an important milestone for the development of volleyball in Germany.
"This agreement is an important milestone for both Volleyball World and German volleyball. The partnership with ZDF will allow our tournaments to reach more fans in Germany than ever before, while providing them with unprecedented free access to top-level international volleyball. This is a key step towards increasing the popularity of volleyball in Germany," said von Knorring in Volleyball World's official statement.
Sascha Kojic, CEO of SN1 Sports, also emphasized the significance of the new partnership.
"It was extremely important for us to find a truly strategic partner for Volleyball World in Germany, and ZDF is exactly that. Its strong digital presence is just as important as free-to-air television broadcasting. The Mediathek platform has already proven its enormous reach and audience engagement during major sports events. This partnership places volleyball in an excellent position for long-term growth," said Kojic, quoted by Volleyball World.
Among Bulgarian fans, dissatisfied with the transfer of our national team's matches to a new private channel, the opinion is widespread that BNT (Bulgarian National Television) should broadcast them, as it is "supported by our taxes". Here, it is useful to clarify the difference in the funding model of public television between the two countries. In Germany, they are financed by a targeted, legally protected item – a mandatory fee (Rundfunkbeitrag) of 18.36 euros per household per month (approximately 2.2 billion euros in annual revenue for ZDF alone in 2025; data from ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio Beitragsservice, cited by Handelsblatt, July 2026). The amount of the fee is determined by an independent expert body and is even protected by the Constitutional Court against arbitrary "political" cuts or redirection to other state expenditures. In Bulgaria, BNT is financed from the general state budget – a "common pot" from which its subsidy is determined and voted annually by the Council of Ministers along with all other budget items, not from a separate, protected source. According to the latest approved regulation (July 1, 2026), the subsidy is estimated at approximately 46.4 million euros – an amount still subject to final parliamentary approval and which has already undergone several revisions during the year. This means that, unlike the German model, BNT's revenues are subject to political decision every year – without the guarantee, independence, or predictability that the German mechanism provides.
In this context, while Volleyball World (the global rights holder for the VNL) has granted broadcasting rights in Germany to the public broadcaster ZDF – a deal facilitated through the Munich-based agency SN1 Sports, whose exclusive mandate for selling volleyball media rights in a number of European markets, including Germany, has been extended until 2032 – in Bulgaria, equivalent broadcasting rights have been granted to the private telecom company A1 (through the MAX Sport channels and the new MAX One).
The German example shows that the presence of the Volleyball Nations League in public television programming is not solely the result of a decision by the broadcaster itself. Behind such deals lie Volleyball World's long-term strategy for selling media rights, the work of specialized intermediaries like SN1 Sports, and the funding model of public media. This is precisely why direct comparisons between Germany and Bulgaria cannot be made without taking this context into account.
This clarification does not constitute an assessment of whether the current model for distributing rights in Bulgaria is right or wrong, but merely contextualizes why the case of Germany cannot be used as a direct analogy.