Football’s rollacoaster ride kicks off this week as the highly-anticipated 2013/14 campaign begins and SOTB’s viewing guide will help you locate where you can watch your team on the box this season.
Starting the new term will be the first set of matches in the Sky Bet Football League and the Scottish Premiership, while the big kick-off in the Barclays Premier League takes place two weeks later on August 17-19.
There is also the traditional season-curtain raiser – the FA Community Shield – on August 11, the week prior to the Premier League season starting, plus the renewal of England and Scotland’s fierce rivalry as the two nations lock horns in a friendly encounter at Wembley on August 14.
The 2013-14 campaign will have a lot to live up to following last season’s high drama both on and off the pitch.
Manchester United secured the top flight for the 20th time in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final fling, Celtic scooped the league title in Scotland, while Bayern Munich defeat fellow Germans Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
There has been plenty of change in England this summer, with David Moyes, Manuel Pellegrini and Jose Mourinho now in charge of last season’s top three and big-name arrivals in the shape of Stefan Jovetic and André Schürrle, with the promise of more to come.
Sport On The Box presents a comprehensive guide to the new football season on TV as newcomers BT Sport shake up the sports broadcasting landscape, as it joins the established names in UK televised football – the BBC, ITV and Sky Sports.
FOOTBALL ON THE BOX – Click here for a full list of forthcoming live games
BBC viewers will once again be able to watch every league goal scored by all 92 clubs in England during the 2013-14 season.
Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2 returns to BBC One on the weekend of August 17-18 with highlights from every game in the Premier League throughout the season, while the Football League Show follows Saturday’s MOTD on BBC One.
For the first time this season, Saturday’s edition of Match of the Day will be available to watch online via the BBC’s seven-day catch-up service BBC iPlayer from Mondays at midnight.
Football Focus and Final Score also return for the new season in their regular Saturday slots on BBC One, with Focus now extended to one-hour in length at starting each week at 12noon.
Notable personnel changes over the summer include Mark Chapman replacing Colin Murray as the host of Match of the Day 2, while Jason Mohammad will be the regular presenter of Final Score following Gabby Logan’s decision to leave the show last season.
Chapman will also host a brand new show – Match of the Day 2 Extra – a live simulcast across BBC One, Radio 5 live and the BBC Sport website, a first for UK football coverage.
Airing at 12.20pm every Sunday lunchtime, the 40 minute-long programme will feature a mix of guests including MOTD2 and Radio 5 live contributors, BBC commentators and national newspaper journalists, each with their own distinctive take on the most important stories of the day.
It will also feature debate, interviews and analysis, as the team dissect all the big footballing issues across the weekend.
BBC TV will also screen highlights from each round of the Capital One Cup, plus extended highlights of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final and the Football League play-off finals.
No live men’s football is currently scheduled on BBC network TV for 2013-14, but the FA Cup returns to the corporation next year after they secured the terrestrial rights from ITV.
Following coverage of the 2013 Women’s Euro’s, the BBC will continue to show its support for the rising popularity of women’s football.
There will be live TV coverage of England’s matches in the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers, plus the Women’s Football Show on BBC Two and the 2014 Women’s FA Cup final live on BBC TV.
Next June, attention turns to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and BBC Sport will share live coverage with ITV during the four-week footballing carnival.
Barbara Slater, Director BBC Sport, says: “This season the BBC’s commitment to football coverage is greater than ever.
“We’ll be bringing all the excitement of the new season to our audiences with the return of our iconic football shows, led by Match Of The Day, which reach combined audiences of around 10 m across the weekend.
“Our digital offering continues to grow enabling fans uninterrupted access to all the key action and events as they unfold, wherever they are, with access to news, scores, TV shows and live radio commentaries on the go.
“This coupled with highest values of sports journalism and standards of coverage continue to make the BBC the most trusted home of football amongst fans.”
CLICK HERE for full details of the BBC’s football line-up for 2013-14 season
SUMMARY
– FIFA World Cup 2014 – shared with ITV
– Barclays Premier League – Highlights in Match of the Day & Match of the Day 2
– Sky Bet Football League – Highlights in The Football League Show
– Capital One Cup – Highlights from Round 1 to Final in The League Cup Show
– Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – Highlights of the final on BBC TV
– England Women Internationals – Live
– FA Women’s Cup Final – Live
ITV Sport is once again the home of all major live free-to-air football with more than 60 games set to be covered this season.
Adrian Chiles returns to anchor the network’s varied range of live football, which kicks off with the FA Community Shield on August 11, followed by the fascinating friendly clash between arch rivals England and Scotland at Wembley.
ITV will again be the place to watch all the top action from European competitions. Tuesday nights will again be UEFA Champions League nights on ITV, while the Europa League takes centre stage on Thursdays.
The channel will screen the first pick of Tuesday night Champions League matches each matchday, plus a highlights show after the News at 10.35pm. ITV will share live coverage of the 2014 final from Lisbon with Sky Sports.
In the Europa League, ITV Sport has the first two picks of live matches each matchday, including exclusive coverage of the semi-finals and the final.
Following the recent deal between the BBC and BT, this will be the final season of live FA Cup games on ITV. They will again have the first pick of live games from rounds 1 and 2, the first and fourth pick games from rounds 3 to the quarter finals, one semi-final and the final (shared with BT/ESPN), plus first pick of replays from round 3 onwards.
All England internationals will be shown live on ITV during the season, including all of Roy Hodgson side’s crucial World Cup qualifiers in the autumn. ITV will also broadcast selected FIFA World Cup games from Brazil in June.
In addition, there will be live free-to-air coverage of the UEFA Super Cup and FA Youth Cup, plus weekly highlights from the Bundesliga on ITV4.
SUMMARY
– FIFA World Cup 2014 – shared with BBC
– UEFA Champions League – 18 live games (1st Pick, Tues) – Play-offs to Final
– England Internationals – Home & Away Qualifiers/Friendlies
– FA Cup – 12 live games (round 1 to final) + 1st pick replays (round 3 onwards)
– UEFA Europa League – 29 live games (1st & 2nd picks each matchday)
– UEFA Super Cup – Live
– FA Community Shield – Exclusively live
– FA Youth Cup – Semi Finals & Final live on ITV4
– Bundesliga – Weekly highlights on ITV4
Sky Sports will cover its biggest ever season of live football in 2013-14.
At the centre of its vast football output, subscribers can enjoy 116 live Premier League fixtures during the season, featuring every club at least five times across Saturday evenings, Sunday double-headers, Monday nights and bank holidays.
Sky recently unveiled a refreshed weekend line-up as it goes head-t0-head with new rival BT Sport. This will include a brand new show for Sky’s 5.30pm Saturday evening Premier League fixture – Saturday Night Football.
Presented by David Jones and Jamie Redknapp, SNF will provide a showcase for Premier League football on Saturday evenings and, in a new innovation, the show will feature a live studio audience of football fans who will discuss the key talking points with Sky’s expert analysts.
Saturday Night Football will also extend beyond the live 5.30pm match to include ‘Game of the Day’ and extended highlights of all the 3.00pm kick-offs (replacing Football First). These shows will continue to be hosted by Sarah-Jane Mee.
New for this season, users of the Sky Sports app for iPad will be able to access SNF’s Match Choice via their tablets. It means a choice of extended highlights of up to eight games will be available to fans via the app from 10pm on Saturdays.
Live weekend coverage of Football League games also gets a makeover with FL72 Live, which will showcase the best action from all three divisions in a new 12.15pm kick-off slot, all presented by Simon Thomas.
Soccer Saturday returns for the new season with Jeff Stelling and guests, running from 12.00pm to 6.00pm on Sky Sports News. The show will also be simulcast on Sky Sports 1 between 3.00pm and 5.00pm.
Sunday’s line-up stays the same as previous seasons, beginning with Sunday Supplement and Goals on Sunday, followed by live Super Sunday in the afternoon and La Liga matches in the evening.
New signing Jamie Carragher will partner Gary Neville and presenter Ed Chamberlin on a new-look Monday Night Football, a show which will bring Sky’s comprehensive weekend football line-up to a close.
Sky Sports will continue to showcase all but one game from each matchday of the UEFA Champions League, as well the best of the Scottish Premiership, Irish football and selected internationals featuring Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
CLICK HERE for full details of Sky Sports’ football line-up for 2013-14 season
SUMMARY
– Barclays Premier League – 116 live games
– UEFA Champions League – 129 live games
– Sky Bet Football League – 90 live games
– Capital One Cup – 15 live games
– Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – Selected live games
– Scottish Premiership – 25 live games
– Scottish League 1 – 5 live games (all featuring Rangers)
– Irish Premiership – Selected live games
– La Liga / Copa Del Rey – Over 100 live games
– UEFA Super Cup – Live
– International Football – Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland & Rep. of Ireland games live
– Sky Sports U-16 Victory Shield – Live
After much fanfare and 12 months of preparation, sports broadcasting newcomers BT Sport launch their new channels on August 1 and will showcase a significant amount of top live football from the UK and beyond.
BT Sport’s centrepiece is its much-heralded 38 exclusively live Barclays Premier League games, including 18 top pick matches, with the majority of it being presented from BT’s impressive new studios on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
In addition to England’s top division, BT will offer hundreds of top flight live matches from football leagues around the world including Italy, Germany, France, Brazil, Australia and the United States.
It will also show live football from the Scottish Professional Football League top flight plus 10 Rangers matches, FA Cup ties (to be shown on the BT-owned ESPN channel), as well as live coverage from the UEFA Europa League, the Football Conference and the FA Women’s Super League.
BT have assembled a formidable presentation team comprising of well-known faces, with former BBC presenter Jake Humphrey anchoring all of its 38 exclusively live Premier League matches.
Pundits include two-time Champions League winners Owen Hargreaves and Steve McManaman, plus former England number one goalkeeper David James.
Joining BT Sport as commentators will be Ian Darke and Darren Fletcher, with former Liverpool and England legend Michael Owen, who retired after the 2012-2013 season, taking up the role of co-commentator.
BT intends to innovate by introducing Premier League referee Mark Halsey to a brand new role in the commentary team.
Established sports broadcaster Ray Stubbs will also join as chief football reporter, bringing a wealth of experience, having reported on a variety of major sporting events over the years for the BBC and ESPN.
Featuring in BT’s coverage of Scottish and other top flight football will be the newly-signed Gary McAllister, the former Scotland captain, Motherwell, Leeds United and Liverpool midfielder.
Darrell Currie, the popular Scottish football journalist and former ESPN football reporter will present BT’s Scottish football coverage, while respected former ESPN commentator Derek Rae is lead commentator. Stephen Craigan and Emma Dodds complete the line-up.
Sunday night will be European football night with popular former Football Italia presenter James Richardson appointed to front BT’s European coverage.
BT will screen live top tier matches from Serie A in Italy, Ligue 1 in France, Brasileiro in Brazil and Major League Soccer in the USA.
There is also a wide range of regular support programming, including ‘Life’s a Pitch’ fronted four nights a week by former Daily Mail sports journalist Des Kelly, the Tim Lovejoy-fronted BT Sports Panel on Saturday mornings, plus Danny Kelly and Danny Baker will be reunited to present a Friday night show throughout the season.
SUMMARY
– Barclays Premier League – 38 live games
– FA Cup with Budweiser – up to 25 live games
– UEFA Europa League – up to 24 live games
– Skrill Football Conference – 30 live games
– Scottish Premiership – 30 live games
– Scottish League 1 – 10 live games (all featuring Rangers)
– FA Women’s Super League – 6 live games
– England Women’s Senior International Friendlies – Live
– Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Brasiliero, MLS – Live
– England Under-21 Internationals – Live
Scottish viewers can continue to enjoy the best of the action from north of the border on BBC Scotland this season.
There will be regular highlights of the new look Scottish Premiership every Sunday night on BBC One Scotland in Sportscene, plus live coverage of the Scottish Cup from round 4 onwards and the Scottish League Cup.
The corporation’s Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba will screen selected live games from the Scottish Premiership (as well as delayed games every Saturday at 5.30pm), plus key games from the Ramsdens Cup.
BBC One Scotland, BBC Two Scotland and BBC Alba are all available nationwide via Sky and Virgin Media. BBC Scotland’s coverage will also be streamed via the BBC Sport website and programmes will be made available on BBC iPlayer.
– Scotland Internationals – Away Qualifiers live / Highlights of home qualifiers & friendlies
– Scottish Premiership – Highlights on BBC Scotland in Sportscene, selected live games on BBC Alba
– William Hill Scottish Cup – 1 live game per round from Round 4 to Final on BBC Scotland
– Scottish League Cup – Selected live games on BBC Scotland
– Ramsdens Cup – Selected live games on BBC Alba
– Welsh Premier League – Live game every Saturday, Highlights in Sgorio
– Welsh Cup – Live games from Round 3 to Final
– La Liga – Highlights in Sgorio
– NextGen Series – Selected live games
– FIFA Under-17 World Cup – Live
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