Streameast — the world’s largest illegal sports streaming platform — has been shut down after a yr lengthy investigation, in response to a number one United States-based anti-piracy organisation.
The community of 80 unauthorised domains generated 1.6billion mixed visits over the previous yr, offering free entry to international sports fixtures, together with Europe’s high soccer leagues and competitions, such because the Premier League and Champions League, in addition to the NFL, NBA and MLB.
The Athletic has been knowledgeable by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) — a coalition of fifty media and leisure organisations together with Amazon, Apple TV+, Netflix and Paramount — that an operation alongside Egyptian regulation enforcement officers came about on Sunday August 24 to disrupt Streameast’s dominant place in the illegal streaming market.
Traffic to the positioning reached 136million common month-to-month visits, with domains primarily originating from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, the Philippines and Germany.
“ACE scored a resounding victory in its fight to detect, deter, and dismantle criminal perpetrators of digital piracy: by taking down the largest illegal live sports platform anywhere,” mentioned Charles Rivkin, chairman of ACE and chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
“With this landmark action, we have put more points on the board for sports leagues, entertainment companies, and fans worldwide — and our global alliance will stay on the field as long as it takes to identify and target the biggest piracy rings across the globe.”
Two males had been arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement in El-Sheikh Zaid in the Giza Governorate of Egypt — which is roughly 20 miles west of capital Cairo — and have subsequently been detained. During the raid, authorities seized laptops and smartphones suspected of working the websites.
In addition to confiscating money and a number of bank cards, investigators additionally uncovered hyperlinks to a shell firm in the UAE allegedly used to launder promoting income totalling £4.9million ($6.2m) since 2010, plus an additional £150,000 ($200,000) in crypto forex. Multiple actual property properties in Egypt are additionally suspected of getting been bought with illicit revenues.
ACE work in collaboration with regulation enforcement businesses world wide, together with Europol, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Centre.
“Dismantling Streameast is a major victory for everyone who invests in and relies on the live sports ecosystem,” mentioned Ed McCarthy, COO of DAZN Group, which is a part of the ACE collaboration. “This criminal operation was siphoning value from sports at every level and putting fans across the world at risk.”
In addition to soccer, Streameast offered pirated entry to pay-per-view boxing and MMA, F1 and all the foremost U.S. sports.
In 2024, LA Lakers star Lebron James was seen — via a social media clip — watching an NBA sport between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks on Streameast whereas courtside at an AAU match. At the time, followers of the positioning feared on social media that the eye would result in the positioning being shut down.
LA Lakers star LeBron James was caught utilizing Streameast whereas courtside at an NBA sport final yr (David Richard-USA TODAY Sports).
“This action swiftly dismantled what was once the largest illegal sports streaming operation in the world, and I applaud the Egyptian authorities for their partnership,” mentioned Larissa Knapp, govt vp and chief content material safety officer of MPA, which is a number one contributor to the ACE initiative.
“It’s further proof that no piracy network is beyond the reach of coordinated global enforcement.”
At the time of publishing, Streameast’s unique area is now not energetic, nevertheless a collection of posts on Reddit recommend that back-up domains — or these purporting to be substitute providers — are actually up and working. One of these platforms carrying the identify Streameast claims to be “the ultimate destination for free sports streaming”.
ACE have confirmed to The Athletic that they’re conscious of what they name ‘copycat’ websites — the place impersonators try to capitalise on a niche in the market — and are at the moment investigating whether or not the websites are associated.
Data from Brand Finance — a world model valuation consultancy that carried out a 2025 survey into fan behaviour — discovered that 43 per cent of 14,000 respondents in 13 international locations thought-about utilizing unofficial dwell stream web sites relatively than paying full worth to look at sport.
While the motion towards Streameast may have a world influence, there have additionally been current prosecutions in the U.Okay.
Stephen Woodward was sentenced at York Crown Court on July 11 to a few years in jail after pleading responsible to working three illegal streaming web sites in Thirsk, Yorkshire that generated an earnings of £1million ($1.3m).
Woodward used funds from the legal operation to purchase designer garments, jewelry, holidays and a Jaguar sports automobile value £91,000 ($123,000). His brother, Christopher, was additionally given a 15-month sentence for related cash laundering offences, after the investigation by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) department of City of London Police.
(Top picture: Andy Buchanan/AFP by way of Getty Images)