The new broadcaster of Ligue 1 football, DAZN, does not have an easy name to pronounce in French. For good reason, it is the abbreviation of an English expression, and not an acronym.
DAZN, these four letters are likely to become very well-known in France. Since the start of the 2024-2025 Ligue 1 season, DAZN has broadcast 8 out of 9 football matches in France. Although its beginnings are complicated (including calls for a boycott due to prices deemed excessive), DAZN is a solid player that wants to establish itself in the long term. It is an English streaming service specializing in sports, which wants to establish itself in as many countries as possible.
What do the letters DAZN stand for? Unlike other groups like ESPN (Entertainment Sport Programming Network) or RMC (Radio Monte-Carlo), it is not an acronym. DAZN is the phonetic contraction of “The Zone”, which could be translated as “The place”.
The Zone: DAZN is not an acronym
Created in 2007 in England under the name “Perform Group”, DAZN has specialized since its origins in the broadcasting of sporting events. It was in 2016 that the DAZN brand was officially born, as a self-proclaimed « Netflix you sport ».
Now owned by Access Industrie, the investment group that also owns Deezer, DAZN owns hundreds of sports rights and broadcasts them itself, from its own platform, in more than 200 countries.
DAZN offers in France, which broadcasts 8 Ligue 1 matches exclusively. // Source: Numerama Capture
Why DAZN? If you say it quickly, without pausing on each letter, you can hear “The Zone” (Deu Zone in French). The streaming platform is “the place” to be to watch sports. This is in any case the official explanation on its sitealthough some question the reality. DAZN is suspected of having reinvented its history to make itself cooler, although there is no evidence of this.
The other meaning often mentioned is that of the Russian track, the “DA” of DAZN could refer to the word “Da”, which means “Yes” in Russia. In any case, it is not an acronym, and DAZN only communicates on “The Zone”.
Deu Zone or Da Zone, how do you pronounce DAZN?
The pronunciation of DAZN is a real headache for users of the service, as well as for its own journalists. The mistake not to make is to end with a “Zeune”, instead of “Zone”, since there is no doubt about the pronunciation of this second part.
Officially, according to DAZN’s English-language accounts, it should be said « God Zone »for “The Zone”. However, when you listen to the French version of the channel, all the journalists say “The Zone”, by pronouncing the A in DAZN. It is likely that DAZN decided to Frenchify itself in order to make its pronunciation simpler, particularly due to its proximity to the name Amazon. The official phonetic writing East [dəˈzoːn]which means “Deu Zone”.
DAZN doesn’t have the easiest name to remember, but it should quickly get into people’s heads (especially among football fans). It remains for DAZN to convince you to subscribe legally, without IPTV or streaming, in particular thanks to new, more affordable offers.
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