Genius Sports inks official data, betting streaming deal with Icelandic top football league and clubs

The Icelandic Football Association (KSI) and the Icelandic Top Football (ÍTF), a union of all clubs in the top two divisions, announced on Tuesday a joint long-term partnership with Genius Sports.

Across all major domestic competitions and more than 1400 matches a year, Genius Sports has been granted the exclusive right to capture, manage and commercialize the ÍTF´s and the KSI’s official data and live video betting streams with its global network of betting partners. Sportsbooks will be able to access unique new content, played during off-peak windows from April to October outside of the global football calendar.

Genius Sports will provide its suite of free-to-play solutions, creating weekly and season-long content and delivering more engaging digital experiences for its fans. The ÍTF can select from customized Fantasy games including weekly and salary cap modes, alongside pick ‘em, trivia, and predictor tools to test fans’ knowledge and better understand their content preferences.

Genius Sports’ Integrity Services, including 24/7 bet monitoring technology and a series of educational workshops to players, coaches, and other participants, will help to provide protection from the threats of match-fixing and betting-related corruption.

“This partnership with the ÍTF and KSI is an excellent example of the Genius Sports partnership model and the value we provide,” said Jonny Katanchian, Head of Commercial Partnerships, EMEA. “Icelandic football will benefit from our global reach, unique free-to-play, and official data capabilities to help expand their sport. Sportsbooks will also be provided with the fastest, highest quality data and video content across thousands of events per year during off-peak windows.”

Birgir Jóhannsson, CEO of ÍTF, commented: “We have made an untiring effort during last year to market these rights and now it is bearing fruit.  These agreements, and those that will follow, will make sure that Icelandic football reaches its next step, for everyone’s benefit, including the clubs, the players, and the domestic football community as a whole. There are enormous opportunities ahead.”

Stefán Gunnarsson Director of Commercial & Marketing at KSI, added: “We are immensely pleased to have concluded the contracts with Genius Sports, one of the leading players within the field of betting and official data exploitation.  We really look forward to the partnership for the upcoming cycle.”

In October 2021, the ITF and KSI struck a landmark collective deal with the European Leagues to broadcast its live matches and highlights on ELEVEN and OneFootball. The new partnership now with Genius Sports will help to drive the next stage of growth for Icelandic football, including the launch of a new Media Hub to collate all live data and video content from each match and help attract international interest.

The strategic approach, all related tender processes, and contract negotiations was overseen by Ingolfur Hannesson, formerly of EBU and Infront Sports & Media.