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FDJ United Partners with Ligue 1+ Pro: A New Era for French Football Viewing in Local Venues

By jili tutorial · September 16, 2026

FDJ United Partners with Ligue 1+ Pro: A New Era for French Football Viewing in Local Venues

Overview of the Landmark Agreement

FDJ United, the parent company of the French national lottery and sports betting operator, has forged a transformative partnership with Ligue 1+ Pro, the broadcast and intellectual property platform of Ligue 1 McDonald’s operated by LFP Media. Under this agreement, FDJ’s retail sports betting brand ParionsSport will act as an official distribution partner, making Ligue 1 matches available in thousands of local venues across France.

This collaboration is more than a simple broadcast deal—it represents a strategic move to bring top-flight football directly into community spaces, leveraging FDJ’s extensive retail network to boost viewership and engagement.

How the Partnership Works: Key Details

The Role of ParionsSport as Distribution Partner

ParionsSport, FDJ’s flagship sports betting brand, will promote and facilitate subscriptions to Ligue 1+ Pro across its network of nearly 29,000 retail partners. These include:

Participating establishments can subscribe to Ligue 1+ Pro and then broadcast every Ligue 1 McDonald’s fixture live. The package includes more than 27 hours of live programming each week, covering matches, pre‑ and post‑game analysis, dedicated magazine shows, and—significantly—the return of the Saturday evening Ligue 1 multiplex, a classic format where multiple matches are shown simultaneously with live updates.

What Ligue 1+ Pro Offers

Ligue 1+ Pro is the direct‑to‑consumer broadcast platform launched by LFP Media to provide comprehensive coverage of French football. Beyond live matches, subscribers gain access to:

This content is designed to create a communal viewing atmosphere, echoing the traditional pub‑based football culture found in countries like the UK and Germany.

Strategic Implications for FDJ United

Expanding the B2B Footprint

For FDJ United, this partnership is a key pillar of its broader commercial strategy to grow its business‑to‑business (B2B) offerings beyond traditional lottery point‑of‑sale solutions. The company’s B2B portfolio now includes:

By acting as a distributor for Ligue 1+ Pro, FDJ deepens its relationship with local retailers, offering them a value‑added service that can drive foot traffic and customer loyalty.

Brand Restructuring and the ParionsSport Shift

During the second half of 2024, FDJ is repositioning ParionsSport as a retail‑only sports betting brand. This follows the group’s €4 billion acquisition of Kindred Group, which included the Unibet brand. In April 2024, FDJ migrated ParionsSport’s online operations to Unibet.fr, simplifying its brand structure in the French market. Now, ParionsSport focuses exclusively on in‑store betting, while Unibet handles the digital channel. The Ligue 1+ Pro distribution deal aligns perfectly with this retail focus, giving brick‑and‑mortar ParionsSport outlets a fresh reason for customers to visit.

Benefits for LFP Media and Ligue 1

LFP Media views the partnership as an essential distribution channel for its newly established direct‑to‑consumer platform. By partnering with FDJ United, it gains access to a vast, geographically dispersed retail network that can promote Ligue 1+ Pro in towns and neighbourhoods where digital marketing alone may not reach.

Olivier Bramly, Chief Executive of LFP Media, highlighted the emotional power of shared viewing:

“The emotions of football take on their full meaning when they are shared. With Ligue 1+ Pro, we want to offer supporters more opportunities to experience the highlights of our competitions together in local establishments. The partnership concluded with FDJ United represents an important step towards this ambition. Thanks to the strength of its network and its longstanding commitment to sport, we will be able to bring Ligue 1 McDonald’s and Ligue 2 BKT even closer to their audiences and raise the profile of our competitions at the heart of local communities.”

This move also helps Ligue 1 compete with international leagues that have stronger pub‑based viewing traditions, such as the English Premier League.

What This Means for Local Retailers and Fans

A New Revenue Opportunity for Venues

For bar owners, café managers, and restaurant operators, subscribing to Ligue 1+ Pro through ParionsSport offers a turnkey solution to attract football fans. Instead of negotiating separate broadcast rights or relying on expensive satellite packages, they can now access all Ligue 1 matches plus additional programming under a single subscription facilitated by FDJ.

Community‑Focused Viewing Experiences

Karl Lorenzon, Head of FDJ’s retail sports betting business, emphasised the role of local retailers as community anchors:

“FDJ United’s retail partners are key players in local life, as well as an essential link in bringing sports fans together. This association between ParionsSport and Ligue 1+ creates new opportunities for shared experiences and synergies between our retail partners, supporters and French football, placing proximity at the heart of the sporting experience. This year, we will experience the emotions of football even more intensely, and we are very proud of that.”

Fans who cannot attend matches in person—or who prefer a social atmosphere—can now gather at a nearby bar or ParionsSport point of sale to watch their team play, fostering local camaraderie and supporting small businesses.

The Bigger Picture: FDJ’s Commercial Ambitions

FDJ United’s group CEO Stéphane Pallez has repeatedly underscored the importance of accelerating B2B services both in France and internationally. This partnership is a concrete example of that strategy: it uses a non‑gambling asset (football broadcasting) to strengthen the retail network, which in turn can drive lottery and sports betting sales. By offering a valuable, legal line of content, FDJ also positions itself as a responsible partner in the sports ecosystem, moving beyond pure gambling into media and community engagement.

The deal also signals a potential model for other European lotteries and betting operators: combine physical retail reach with digital broadcast platforms to create new revenue streams while enhancing local social life.

Conclusion

The FDJ United–Ligue 1+ Pro partnership is a well‑calculated move that benefits all parties. FDJ strengthens its retail B2B offering, LFP Media widens distribution for its direct‑to‑consumer platform, local venues gain a reliable source of live football, and fans get more opportunities to enjoy matches together. As the ParionsSport brand refocuses on retail, this agreement places proximity and shared experience at the heart of French football culture.