Sky Sports confirms opening live 2014/15 Football League games
SOTB
The first televised Sky Bet Football League matches of the 2014/15 season have been revealed by Sky Sports, with a feast of football to whet the appetite over the opening weekend.
All three of last season’s relegated Premier League sides will feature in the channel’s first live Sky Bet Championship matches of the new season, which kicks off on August 8-10.
Blackburn Rovers’ home clash against Cardiff City will kick-off the Sky Sports’ live coverage of the new Championship season at Ewood Park on Friday, August 8, kicking off at 7.45pm.
The fixture pits one of last season’s relegated Premier League clubs, Cardiff, against Rovers, who themselves finished just outside of the Play-Offs in May.
Cardiff begin life back in the Championship with a tough Friday night opener at Ewood Park against a Blackburn side that went the last 12 games of the season unbeaten.
Gary Bowyer’s men just missed out on a play-off spot last term, finishing in 8th place, but will be hoping to take the momentum of last season into this one.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, meanwhile, will be under pressure from the off as the Bluebirds hope for a swift return to the Premier League.
Strikers Adam Le Fondre and Federico Macheda have moved to Wales along with Crystal Palace midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi, and their Norwegian boss will be hoping they perform so he can keep owner Vincent Tan happy early on.
Attention turns to League 1 on Saturday, August 9, when Sheffield United and Bristol City contest a lunchtime match at 12.15pm at the world’s oldest professional football ground, Bramall Lane.
Both teams struggled during the first half of last season before coming strong to finish seventh and 12th respectively.
Then, after the first 3.00pm kick-offs of the season have concluded, Sky Sports will screen the third televised game of the weekend when Ipswich Town and Fulham meet at Portman Road, kicking off at 5.15pm.
Fulham will be competing in the second tier of English football for the first time since 2000/01, a season in which they won promotion as champions.
The televised action on Sky Sports action doesn’t end there as its cameras will be at Molineux on Sunday, August 10 for live coverage of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ home clash with Norwich City, kicking off at 4.00pm.
Wolves were two divisions below the Canaries last season, but coupled with Norwich’s relegation from the Premier League, Wanderers won the League 1 title to make an immediate return to the second tier.
It has picked League 2 side Carlisle United’s home tie with Derby County to be played on Monday, August 11, kicking off at 7.45pm, followed by Coventry City’s home clash with Cardiff City on Wednesday, August 13, also a 7.45pm kick-off.
Sky Sports will again screen 75 matches from across the Sky Bet Football League this season, along with all 15 play-off matches, 15 matches from the Capital One Cup, including both legs of each semi-final and the final, the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and at least two matches from the preceding rounds.
From the 2015/16 season onwards, this will increase to a total of 148 live games, thanks to a new extended three-year deal negotiated between Sky and the Football League which will run until 2018.
Further live Football League matches on Sky Sports for the forthcoming 2014/15 season will be announced in due course.
