Channel 4 wins rights to England's European Qualifiers and UEFA Nations League matches
Category: News Release
- All England matches live on free to air television until 2024 as a result of Channel 4 deal
- Six England UEFA Nations League matches to be shown live on Channel 4 this year
- Live matches on Channel 4 include England’s clashes with Germany and current UEFA European Champions Italy
- England’s European Qualifier games to be shown on Channel 4 in 2023
- 20 England matches live on Channel 4 between 2022 to 2024
England’s matches in the UEFA Nations League, European Qualifiers to UEFA EURO 2024 and International Friendlies will be shown live on Channel 4.
Six England games will be shown live on Channel 4 this year starting with their match against Hungary on 4th June, followed three days later with their away match against Germany on 7th June. Gareth Southgate’s men then look to avenge their UEFA EURO final defeat against Italy when they take on the reigning UEFA EURO champions at Molineux on 11th June. This will be the first time that live coverage of the men’s national team will have featured on Channel 4.
The deal struck by Channel 4’s sports team means that all England matches will be shown live on free to air television until 2024. And it will be the first time England UEFA Nations League games will be on free to air television. In total Channel 4 will broadcast 20 live England matches between 2022 to 2024.
Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon said: “As a life-long committed football fan I am personally so delighted that we have these matches on the channel which further reinforce our reputation as a top quality sport broadcaster having been named Sports Network of the Year at this year’s British Sports Journalism Awards.”
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.”
Channel 4 was named Sports Network of the Year at the British Sports Journalism Awards after delivering a host of free to air first class live sporting events to the nation throughout 2021, including Emma Raducanu’s stunning US Open Grand Slam win. It also struck a deal to show live coverage of the winner takes all F1 finale in Abu Dhabi which saw Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton and drew 4.4 million viewers.
Other major live sports coverage on Channel 4 have also included: the British & Irish Lions; England’s Test tour of India; Ireland rugby union internationals; and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games which attracted 20 million viewers. More recently the broadcaster aired more than 80 hours coverage of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Game and struck deals to show live Betfred Super League rugby and Formula E.
Channel 4’s Head of Sport Pete Andrews said: “England matches against Germany are always an exciting prospect and I’m sure the team will be keen to set the record straight against Italy after the defeat in the final of the UEFA EURO.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have secured this deal with UEFA and I’m sure England fans will be looking forward to the summer with great anticipation.”
The full details of England’s UEFA Nations League matches to be shown live on Channel 4 are:
4th June - Hungary vs England
7th June - Germany vs England
11th June – England vs Italy
14th June – England vs Hungary
23rd September – Italy vs England
26th September – England vs Germany.
The matches in the UEFA European Qualifiers in 2023 are yet to be determined, with the Draw scheduled on October 9, 2022
* England’s World Cup matches will be shown by other free to air broadcasters.