DAZN criticized again before Japan-Korea match, “There are too many ads even though the price has been raised'' terrestrial and TV Asahi welcomes | Football Tribe Japan

The U23 Japan National Team, led by coach Tsuyoshi Oiwa, will face the U23 South Korea National Team in the final round of the AFC U23 Asian Cup and Paris Olympics qualifying group stage, which will be held on the 22nd of this month. Ahead of the Japan-Korea game, the internet video distribution service “DAZN'' has once again been criticized one after another.

DAZN, which broadcasts J League and European soccer, signed a long-term contract with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 2021 until 2028. As a result, some matches, including away games from the Qatar World Cup final qualifiers, will be exclusively distributed. At the AFC Asian Cup held in January and February of this year, DAZN exclusively broadcast three of the five games played by the Japanese national team. The games against Iraq and Iran were broadcast on terrestrial TV as well as on DAZN, but the Japanese team lost in both cases.

However, all matches of the Japanese national team in the U23 Asian Cup will be broadcast live not only on DAZN but also on terrestrial TV. Since it will be broadcast on TV Asahi and NHK, many people on the internet are welcoming the terrestrial broadcasting, with comments such as “Thank God it's being broadcast on terrestrial television'' and “DAZN is too expensive, so it's good news.''

In addition, DAZN has raised its monthly fees for the third consecutive year, and there has been a noticeable increase in advertisements within the content, so “Even though DAZN is raising prices, its service is getting worse'' and “DAZN's reforms are terrible.'' One of the complaints was, “Why are there more ads even though I have to pay for DAZN?'' In addition to some reports of troubles related to withdrawal procedures, “DAZN'' is trending on X (formerly Twitter).

In addition, during DAZN's broadcast of the game against South Korea, former Japanese national team members Takashi Mizunuma and Shinji Ono provided commentary. On TV Asahi, Atsuto Uchida, also an alumnus of the Japanese national team, and Yasutaro Matsuki, who is famous as an “izakaya commentator'' who fully supports the Japanese national team, will be in the broadcast seats.