European Qualifiers 2016: Matchdays 2-3 live on ITV & Sky

The new-look European Qualifiers continue this week with matchdays two and three taking place back-to-back from October 9-14 and fans can watch every match live across ITV Sport and Sky Sports.

More than 50 nations are chasing an expanded 23 places alongside hosts France at the UEFA European Championships in the summer of 2016, with 10 matchdays standing between them and a place in one of international football’s most coveted and prestigious competitions.

For the first time, qualifying takes place under the ‘Week of Football’ concept, in which games are spread out from Thursday to Tuesday, or in the case of the opening matchday, Sunday to Tuesday, with regular kick-off times set mainly at 17:00 and 19:45 UK time..

In all, 50 of the 53 qualifying hopefuls have fixtures over the coming week, while Euro 2016 hosts France will also take on Serbia as part of a programme where they face the odd team from the five-team Group I on each matchday.

The nine group winners, the nine runners-up and the best third-placed side will qualify directly for the final tournament, while eight remaining third-placed teams will contest play-offs to determine the last four qualifiers for the finals.

Sky Sports will be screening the overwhelming majority of live Euro 2016 qualifiers, including all Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland matches exclusively live.

Free-to-air partners ITV will be covering all England qualifiers exclusively live, as well as selected other matches featuring non-Home Nations on ITV4, plus highlights and goals from all home nations games.

The new shared TV deal for qualifying matches ahead of major tournaments was introduced by UEFA as part of a new centralised broadcasting arrangement, similar to that used for the Champions League, which meant European football’s governing body took control of selling TV rights to qualifying matches, rather than individual national associations.

Under the new centralised system, every UEFA qualifying match will be broadcast live across Europe, giving fans the chance to follow every team during each matchday in a similar way to which fans are now accustomed to following the Champions League.

With the expanded tournament featuring 24 nations, the home nations will fancy their chances of qualifying for Euro 2016 in France.

Follow every moment of the new UEFA European Qualifiers from start to finish on ITV and Sky Sports between now and October 2015.

Details of the fixtures for matchdays two and three, and when and where to watch them, can be found below.

THURSDAY 9th OCTOBER

ENGLAND v San Marino

Group E

19:45

SATURDAY 11th SEPTEMBER

Poland v Germany

Group D

19:45

SUNDAY 12th OCTOBER

Estonia v ENGLAND

Group E

17:00

TUESDAY 14th SEPTEMBER

Denmark v Portugal

Group I

19:45

England’s second and third Group E matches from their Euro 2016 qualifying matches against San Marino and Estonia respectively will both be broadcast exclusively live on ITV.

The Three Lions will be looking to continue the upbeat start to their campaign to qualify for the finals in France, having defeated Switzerland 2-0 in Basel with a double from Danny Welbeck.

San Marino have shipped 26 goals against England in their four meetings to date, scoring just once. The last time they met, during the World Cup qualifying campaign in March 2013, England won 8-0 away with two goals from Jermain Defoe.

Raheem Sterling and Welbeck, who also scored a double at Wembley in a 5-0 qualifying win over San Marino in 2012, will look to continue their good form for the national team.

Meanwhile, 38-year-old Andy Selva is likely to lead the line for the lowly La Serenissima. With more than 60 caps and eight goals, he’s the leading scorer in the history of the team and will be hoping to add to his tally with what would be an historic goal against England.

Then on Sunday evening, England travel to Tallinn to face Estonia and Roy Hodgson’s men will be hoping to go to the A. Le Coq Arena with two group stage wins already under their belts.

The two teams last met in October 2007 at Wembley, where goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips and Wayne Rooney steered England to a 3-0 victory in a qualifier for Euro 2008.

Two survivors from that match, captain Ragnar Klavan and midfielder Aleksandr Dmitrijev, may feature for the home side, who enjoyed a winning start to its own Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with a 1-0 win over Slovenia in September.

Adrian Chiles presents ITV’s live coverage of both England clashes, where he will be joined by pundits Glenn Hoddle, Lee Dixon and Ian Wright, while commentary comes from Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, plus pitchside reports courtesy of Gabriel Clarke.

Highlights of both England games will shown later in the evening on both match nights on ITV, with both shows also featuring the pick of the goals from other ties played, including those featuring the Home Nations.

In addition to ITV’s coverage of the England qualifiers, ITV4 will be screening two matches featuring non-Home Nations sides, starting with Germany’s trip to Warsaw to play Poland in Group D.

Germany had Thomas Muller to thank last month as they began their qualification campaign – his two goals helped earn the world champions a hard fought 2-1 win against Scotland in Dortmund.

Next up for Joachim Loew’s men is a trip to Warsaw to take on a Polish side who started with an emphatic 7-0 win against international rookies Gibraltar, with striker Robert Lewandowsi scoring four goals that night and he would love to add to his tally as he comes up against many of his Bayern Munich team mates.

Then on Tuesday night, ITV4 has live coverage of the clash in Group I between Denmark and Portugal. The Portuguese have started their campaign badly, losing at home to Albania, a result which saw their coach get sacked. Denmark kicked off their campaign with a win against Armenia.

Matt Smith presents ITV4’s coverage of both games, alongside Jermaine Jenas and Tony Pulis for Poland v Germany, and Glenn Hoddle for Denmark v Portugal, with Sam Matterface and Clarke Carlisle providing commentary on both fixtures.

On both ITV4 match nights, the channel will also screen a comprehensive highlights show rounding all the European Qualifiers action, featuring all the key games from matchdays two and three involving the Home Nations.

The best moments from all the matchday two action, featuring extended highlights of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland’s matches, will be shown on ITV4 at 11.30pm on Saturday, October 11; followed by matchday three highlights on Tuesday, October 14, also at 11.30pm.

ITV and ITV4’s coverage is available to watch live for free and on catch-up via ITV Player, while additional video clips, interviews and analysis can be found on itv.com/football.

FRIDAY 10th OCTOBER

WALES v Bosnia-Herzegovina

Group B

19:45

SATURDAY 11th OCTOBER

SCOTLAND v Georgia

Group D