ACE expands its influence in the fight against digital piracy with the support of UEFA

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) becomes the first sports rights holder to officially join the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a global content protection coalition dedicated to combating digital piracy.

ACE, the leading global alliance against digital piracy led by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), brings together more than 50 important companies and entertainment studios in a coordinated effort to combat piracy digital that threatens the integrity of the digital ecosystem. In collaboration with “law enforcement and other partners”, implements actions to dismantle illegal operations all over the world.

UEFA will play an active role in the Live Tier of ACE, which enhances and coordinates ACE's efforts to combat sports piracy operations. Live Tier members benefit from the Alliance's ability to real-time information exchange, global reach, political advocacy and alliances with the private sector and with the Alliance's law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, they have dedicated staff, processes and technology to confront the immediacy of piracy on match days.

Guy-Laurent Epstein, executive director of marketing UEFA, considers it a “milestone” for its global content protection strategy to become part of the CA, since the alliance “allows us to expand our compliance capabilities, deepen our collaboration with industry leaders and leverage ACE's proven ability to dismantle illegal services.”

On the part of the ACE, its president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association, Charles Rivkin, explains that “with UEFA joining the world's largest anti-piracy coalition, we strengthen our fight to detect, deter and dismantle online piracy everywhere.” “Joining forces with UEFA strengthens ACE's ability to defend sports content from malicious actors in real time and expands the scope of our efforts to protect football fans and broadcasters around the world,” he explains.