MUMBAI: Neo Sports’ Harish Thawani is back with a bang! After acquiring rights for the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) cricket, Neo Sports has now scored a goal by acquiring the telecast rights of FIFA Club World Cup.

In its foray into club football, the sports broadcaster has acquired the rights for two editions, the first of which will unfold from 10 December, 2015. The tourney will take place in Japan this year.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Neo Sports EVP programming Mautik Tolia says, “Last time the tournament created a lot of buzz and the quality of football was also premium. We went aggressively for the rights because we feel this is a great time to have a FIFA tournament. Everyone’s eye will be on star packed Barcelona and I think there will be some exhibition of quality football.”  

Neo acquired the broadcasting rights for the Indian sub-continent from global agency Dentsu for multiple years. “We are confident that we will recover the acquisition cost pretty soon,” adds Tolia.

However, he refrained from revealing the acquisition cost.

“Neo will continue to evaluate the available rights and whenever we see a premium sport available we will grab the opportunity,” Tolia says.

FIFA Club World Cup is played between seven teams. Champions of AFC (Asia), UEFA Champions League (Europe), CAF League (AFRICA), CONCACAF Champions League (North America), Copa Libertadros (South America), OFC Champions and along with the host nation's national champions, participate in a straight knock out.