Five former European champions are among 48 sides jostling for position as the race for the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League gets under way this September, live on ITV4 and BT Sport.
Europe’s secondary club competition kicks off on September 18 with teams from 26 nations taking part in a group phase which has a physical and multinational sweep that even its greater Champions League cousin cannot match, with no shortage of big-name sides either.
Former European champions Inter Milan, Celtic FC, PSV Eindhoven, Steaua Bucharest and Feyenoord provide some of the prestige and quality on show in this season’s competition, while England’s representatives come in the shape of Tottenham Hotspur and Everton, who will be hoping a strong run in Europe can propel them along to greater heights in the Premier League.
ITV and BT Sport will again be sharing live coverage of the UEFA Europa League this season with up to six live games each matchday during the group phase, plus all the key knockout encounters in the spring.
Both broadcasters, who began sharing coverage of the competition last year, are in their final season of the current contract to cover live matches from Europe’s secondary club competition, before the live rights pass over to BT Sport exclusively from 2015/16.
ITV4 will be the place to watch the majority of the top matches as ITV Sport has all first and second pick games during the group stage and the entire knockout phase.
Most of ITV’s live games will be shown on digital channel ITV4, with matches featuring British teams from the quarter final stages onwards to be screened on ITV in the new year.
ITV will also screen live and exclusive coverage of the 2015 UEFA Europa League final which will be staged at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, on May 27.
For matchday one of this season’s competition, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton’s ties take centre stage as part of ITV4’s opening double bill of live Europa League football.
Matt Smith presents ITV4’s live coverage of both English sides’ opening games from 5.30pm, alongside pundit Gordon Strachan, as Spurs travel to Serbia to take on Partizan Belgrade in the first match, while Roberto Martinez and Everton face a tough match as they host German side Wolfsburg, who finished fifth in the Bundesliga last season.
ITV4’s live match coverage, as well additional video clips, interviews and analysis, is available to watch for free via the ITV football website, while a one-hour highlights rounding up all the action from each matchday will be broadcast on Friday evenings on ITV4.
BT Sport will broadcast at least four live matches during the group phase across BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2, plus a selection of matches during the knockout stages.
New for this season, James Richardson will be presenting BT Sport’s Europa League coverage with commentary and analysis from the regular European Football Show team of journalists including James Horncastle, Julien Laurens and Raphael Honigstein, alongside BT Sport’s regular pundits.
Kicking off the channel’s coverage on matchday 1 will be Celtic’s tricky away tie against Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg, with Ronny Deila’s side looking to salvage some European pride after they crashed out of the Champions League in last month’s play-off round.
Scotland’s only European representatives this season have been handed a favourable group stage draw, having avoided the grudge match with Legia Warsaw, the side who thrashed Celtic initially in the second round qualifying phas before being kicked out for fielding an ineligible play, for the time being at least.
Following the Celtic match, BT Sport 1 will screen live coverage Napoli’s home match against Sparta Prague, while BT Sport 2’s double bill includes German side Borussia Monchengladbach against Villarreal of Spain, followed by last season’s Europa League winners Sevilla against Dutch side Feyenoord.
BT Sport subscribers can watch the channel’s live matches on BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2 via its online streaming service at btsport.com or on the BT Sport app for mobile and tablet devices.
Keep up to date with all the latest UEFA Europa League reports, goal flashes and results by following ITV Football on Twitter @itvfootball and BT Sport’s dedicated football feed @btsportfootball.
Further details of when and where to watch all the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League Matchday 1 action can be found below.
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