Nine Entertainment has taken a big swing (or massive header) in buying the broadcast rights to English Premier League and FA Cup soccer to bolster its fledgling Stan Sport streaming service.

These rights, being acquired from Optus, will cost an estimated $60 million a year – the equivalent of around half what Nine pays for the right to major rugby league games.

But while many of us were introduced to the sport via the excitement around the Matildas and the Socceroos international games, these are not part of the package. Paramount and Ten have these matches tied up.

Around half of the roughly 700,000 of the people that watch Optus Sport are not Stan subscribers.Credit: Getty

Nine is punting on soccer fans being willing to pay for a Stan subscription and an additional Stan Sport subscription to watch these games. It knows that around half of the roughly 700,000 of the people that watch Optus Sport are not Stan subscribers, so in theory these soccer fans could migrate to Stan.

But some of the Optus subscribers were given........

© The Sydney Morning Herald