England’s European qualifiers, Nations League games to be on free TV

England’s European qualifiers, Nations League games to be on free TV

England’s matches in the European Nations League this year and their qualifiers for Euro 2024 next year will be on free-to-air television after Channel 4 secured the broadcast rights.

The deal means all six matches to be played by Gareth Southgate’s men in the Nations League in June and September will be shown live on the terrestrial broadcaster.

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In all, Channel 4 says the deal will cover 20 England internationals between now and 2024, but it does not cover the rights to matches at this year’s World Cup, which will be screened on the BBC and ITV.

It will be the first time that any of England’s Nations League matches have been on terrestrial television since the competition began in 2018, with the games previously on Sky.

England’s home World Cup and European Championship qualifiers have been on ITV since 2008 and that broadcaster has held the rights to home and away qualifiers since qualification for Euro 2016.

Channel 4’s chief content officer Ian Katz said: “After bringing some of the biggest sporting moments of last year to the nation, I’m delighted that Channel 4 will be airing so many mouth-watering England matches on free-to-air television.

“This deal shows Channel 4 can compete for some of the biggest properties in sport and will bring substantial new audiences to our award-winning slate of original programming.”

The rights to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales’ Nations League matches from 2024, the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, any Euro 2028 qualifiers featuring the sides and friendly matches have been secured.

They were secured earlier this week by Nordic streaming service Viaplay in a four-year deal.

dpa/NAN