The new-look European Qualifiers resume this week with the fourth matchday of the campaign to qualify for UEFA Euro 2016 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.
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| SATURDAY 15th NOVEMBER |
| ENGLAND v Slovenia Group E | 17:00 |
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| SUNDAY 16th NOVEMBER |
| Italy v Croatia Group H | 19:45 |
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England continue their qualification quest to Euro 2016 in France as they take on Slovenia under the floodlights at Wembley on Saturday tea-time, exclusively live on ITV.
Roy Hodgson’s side have three wins from their first three games under their belts so far and will be hope to continue their winning run, with the prestige friendly against Scotland at Celtic Park also to follow midweek.
The Slovenians face the Three Lions for the first time since the 2010 World Cup, when England won a tense and nervy encounter 1-0 in Port Elizabeth, courtesy of a Jermain Defoe goal, and they go into the game on a run of two qualifying wins against Switzerland and Lithuania after losing their first game to Estonia.
England’s visitors should provide a decent test at Wembley having got their own campaign back on track, but the Three Lions will be confident of maintaining their 100% record into the new year, with their next qualifier being at home against Lithuania in March.
Wayne Rooney is also set to make history on Saturday night as he looks set to start in what will be his 100th appearance in an England shirt, joining an exclusive club which comprises of only eight other players, including Peter Shilton, David Beckham and Sir Bobby Charlton.
Adrian Chiles presents ITV’s live coverage alongside regualr pundits Glenn Hoddle, Lee Dixon and Ian Wright, while commentary comes from Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, plus pitchside reports come courtesy of Gabriel Clarke.
Extended highlights of the England match will be shown later in the evening on ITV, with both shows also featuring the pick of the action from the other ties played in Group E, plus the goals from Scotland v Republic of Ireland and Romania v Northern Ireland.
In addition to ITV’s coverage of England’s latest qualifier, ITV4 will be screening live action from Group H as Italy play host to near-neighbours Croatia at Milan’s San Siro stadium.
Both teams have maximum points from three games with Croatia leading the group due to their superior goal difference, though the Italians have not taken full advantage of the lowly opposition in their group games.
Matt Smith presents ITV4’s live coverage on Sunday evening alongside studio guests including former Croatia coach Slaven Bilic and Glenn Hoddle, with Joe Speight and Clarke Carlisle providing match commentary.
Also on Sunday, ITV4 will also screen a comprehensive highlights show rounding all the European Qualifiers action from Matchday 4, featuring Scotland’s clash against the Republic of Ireland, Wales’ tough trip to Belgium and Northern Ireland’s away clash against Romania.
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.
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| FRIDAY 14th NOVEMBER |
| SCOTLAND v REPUBLIC OF IRELAND Group D | 19:45 |
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| Romania v NORTHERN IRELAND Group F | 19:45 |
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| SUNDAY 16th NOVEMBER |
| Belgium v WALES Group B | 17:00 |
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Sky Sports will show the complete story of the European Qualifiers for the 2016 UEFA European Championships, featuring every player, every country and every match.
For the first time on UK television, all 53 nations hoping to qualify will be televised in over 250 matches, giving Sky Sports subscribers the complete qualification story.
Every Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland qualifier will be broadcast exclusively live on Sky Sports, with highlights and analysis of England’s qualifying matches to be shown after full-time.
Matchday four’s standout fixture on Sky Sports sees Scotland entertain the Republic of Ireland in Group D as the two Celtic cousins clash at Celtic Park on Friday night, exclusively live on Sky Sports 5.
Scotland are third in the group after their opening three games, following up a defeat to Germany and a narrow victory over Georgia with a hard-fought 2-2 draw in Poland.
Steven Naismith’s goal put them 2-1 up after the break, but they couldn’t hold on. Poland poured forward and eventually got back on terms thanks to a superb effort from Arkadiusz Milik.
That result leaves them three points behind an Ireland side who remain unbeaten. Martin O’Neill’s men got the better of both Georgia and Gibraltar before denying Germany in Gelsenkirchen last time out.
Both teams looked toothless up top for much of the game and it took a classy strike from Toni Kroos to put the world champions ahead, before John O’Shea made sure to mark his 100th cap in style, stabbing home the equaliser in injury time.
Also on the night, Georgia play Poland in the same group, while Northern Ireland make the trip to Bucharest to take on Romania, live on Sky Sports 2.
The men in green haven’t put a foot wrong thus far, picking up three straight wins over Hungary, the Faroe Islands and Greece.
Then on Sunday, Sky Sports 5 will screen live coverage of Wales’ trip to Belgium with Chris Coleman’s side having claimed seven points from the first nine available and currently top Group B.
They ran out 2-1 winners against Cyprus in their most recent outing with early goals from David Cotterill and Hal Robson-Kanu enough to see them through.
Belgium are likely to provide their toughest test yet, though, with the World Cup quarterfinalists have also made an unbeaten start to their qualifying campaign and have enormous attacking talent at their disposal.
They put six past Andorra in their opening fixture and can call upon the talents of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and, of course, Chelsea star Eden Hazard.
With up to nine live matches on any one night in a Champions League-style format, Sky Sports viewers will be able to follow every twist and turn of the European Qualifiers all in one place.
Joining presenters David Jones and Kate Abdo for match analysis will be Sky Sports’ regular experts including Jamie Carragher, Graeme Souness, Niall Quinn, Jamie Redknapp and Neil McCann.
The analysts will offer their views and insights from a brand new studio complete with giant touchscreen technology.
The majority of Sky’s exclusively live European Qualifiers will be shown on Sky Sports 5, the network’s new “home of European football”, which will offer up to 600 live matches from the world of European football this season, while other matches will air on Sky Sports 1 or Sky Sports 3.
Fixtures which are not on the main Sky Sports channels will be available on Sky Sports for iPad’s new European Qualifier enhanced experience, featuring video on demand highlights, and on Sky Sports’ Red Button service.
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MATCHDAY 4
Friday 14th November
GEORGIA v POLAND – Group D
Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.55pm-7.00pm Sky Sports 5
SCOTLAND v REPUBLIC OF IRELAND – Group D
Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.00pm-10.30pm Sky Sports 5
ROMANIA v NORTHERN IRELAND – Group F
Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.30pm-10.00pm Sky Sports 2
Live games via Red Button/app on Sky Sports 5 (all k/o 19:45)
– Germany v Gibraltar
– Greece v Faroe Islands
– Hungary v Finland
– Portugal v Armenia
– Serbia v Denmark
Match Highlights
European Qualifiers
10.00pm-10.30pm Sky Sports 5
Saturday 15th November ENGLAND v SLOVENIA – Group E Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.30pm-7.15pm ITV AUSTRIA v RUSSIA – Group G Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.55pm-7.30pm Sky Sports 5 SPAIN v BELARUS – Group C Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 7.30pm-10.00pm Sky Sports 5 Live games via Red Button/app on Sky Sports 5 (all k/o 19:45 unless stated) – Cyprus v Andorra (17:00) – Azerbaijan v Norway (17:00) – Turkey v Kazakhstan – Israel v Bosnia-Herzegovina – Bulgaria v Malta Match Highlights European Qualifiers Featuring: England v Slovenia 10.00pm-10.30pm Sky Sports 5 Euro 2016 Qualifiers Featuring: England v Slovenia 11.15pm-12.15am ITV
Sunday 16th November BELGIUM v WALES – Group B Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.30pm-7.30pm Sky Sports 5 NETHERLANDS v LATVIA – Group A Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.45pm-7.00pm Sky Sports 3 ITALY v CROATIA – Group H Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.25pm-10.00pm ITV4 CZECH REPUBLIC v ICELAND – Group A Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.30pm-10.30pm Sky Sports 5 Live games via Red Button on Sky Sports 5 (all k/o 19:45 unless stated) – Romania v Hungary (17:00) – Armenia v Serbia (17:00) – Finland v Greece – Albania v Denmark Match Highlights Euro 2016 Qualifiers Featuring: Extended highlights of all Home Nations matches 10.30pm-12.00am ITV4 European Qualifiers 10.00pm-10.30pm Sky Sports 5
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