ITV Sport has announced its coverage plans and on-screen line-up for the 2016 UEFA European Championships in France which kicks off on June 10.
A French football icon, a host of European football talent and a ground-breaking new online partnership with Copa90 will all play a key part in the channel’s coverage of the month-long tournament this summer.
Lending their expertise and experience to ITV’s live free-to-air coverage will be a squad of UK and continental football figures, with representatives from the Home Nations and the Republic of Ireland as well as other European competing nations.
ITV’s presentation team will be based at a studio in Paris, overlooking the Seine and the iconic Notre Dame, to bring home to viewers the impact of the tournament from one of Europe’s most famous and beautiful cities.
The team will criss-cross the country to deliver build-up, live coverage and analysis of games from in and around the stadia in the various tournament locations.
Leading ITV’s coverage of a major tournament for the first time will be main presenter Mark Pougatch, with Jacqui Oatley also hosting a selection of ITV’s live games and highlights shows.
Joining established ITV pundits Glenn Hoddle, Ian Wright and Lee Dixon will be star names including former Croatia and current West Ham manager Slaven Bilic, German football legend Lothar Matthaus.
Providing the host nation’s perspective on ITV’s coverage will be World Cup winners Emmanuel Petit and Christian Karembeu, as well as former France international Louis Saha.
Other key pundits confirmed by the channel include Peter Crouch, Tony Pulis, Norman Whiteside, Richard Dunne and Eniola Aluko, who will become the first female on-screen pundit to be appointed by a UK broadcaster for a major men’s football tournament.
Clive Tyldesley leads ITV’s commentary line-up for his ninth successive major tournament. Fellow match commentators include Sam Matterface, Joe Speight and David Stowell.
Co-commentators include Glenn Hoddle, Iain Dowie, and Andy Townsend, who returns to the channel for the tournament, while former World Cup final referee Howard Webb joins the ITV team to offer insight into decisions made on the pitch during key matches.
Gabriel Clarke and Leon Mann will be ITV’s roving reporters at the key games and within the Home Nations team camps.
Some of ITV’s key live fixtures in the group stage include England’s first and final group games against Russia and Slovakia, Northern Ireland v Ukraine, Russia v Wales and the Republic of Ireland’s games against Belgium and Italy.
In the knockout stages, ITV will have first pick of the round of 16 and semi-finals, whilst the BBC has first two picks of the quarter-finals, with both channels showing the final at the Stade de France on July 10.
Commenting the broadcaster’s Euro 2016 plans, Niall Sloane, ITV Director of Sport, said: “Euro 2016 is one of the most anticipated football tournaments in recent memory for fans in the British Isles, with England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland having qualified and the action taking place just a hop across the English Channel.
“With a range of football figures from both at home and abroad who have an abundance of expertise and personality as well as comprehensive plans to bring to our viewers at home all the insight and action on air and online, we’re looking forward to a tournament to remember.”
Build-up to the tournament across ITV’s platforms and on social media will feature football icon Eric Cantona, who will be the face and voice of its Euro 2016 marketing campaign, with the tag-line – ‘ITV bring the games – you bring the luck’.
Focused on how fans and players alike interact with the game, the theme is superstition and the former player who famously wore his iconic number 7 Manchester United shirt with the collar turned up because he believed it brought him luck, appears and narrates over images of the often bizarre rituals supporters observe while willing their teams to victory.
Cantona is also the figurehead for ITV’s new ‘Summer of Sport’ promotional campaign, which highlights the broadcaster’s France-focused action in coming months, with live coverage of a series of key events including French Open tennis, followed by Euro 2016, then the Tour de France will round off two months of back-to-back sport on the other side of La Manche.
Additionally, ITV has also announced details of an innovative online partnership with global football network Copa90, which will generate unique, original content every day throughout the tournament, to be shared across the ITV Hub and Copa90’s platforms, focussing on the tournament through the eyes of the fans.
The unique perspective of fans experiencing the tournament from each competing nation will be at the core of The Fans Daily, a brand new show that will be produced and presented by Copa90 host Eli Mengem and its network of creators across Europe and shared each day on the ITV Hub and Copa90’s platforms.
The Fans Daily will draw on people in every corner of the continent to create a truly international, fans-first perspective of the Euros, showing just what effect the tournament is having in every country involved, as well as on the streets and in the stadiums of France, to provide a fresh and vibrant 360-degree experience of EURO 2016.
In tandem with The Fans Daily, the ITV Hub’s Euros coverage will also be enhanced by Le Petit Highlights.
This exclusively online package is a five-minute daily round-up of all the goals and key moments from each match to allow fans on the move to catch up on all the action in France.
The Fans Daily and Le Petit Highlights mark the first time original online-only content has been commissioned and produced in this way for the ITV Hub.
As well as a dedicated Euro 2016 website – itv.com/euro2016 – featuring the latest news and highlights, fans will also be able to watch in-match clips of goals and key moments from ITV’s live matches on ITV Football’s Twitter feed, plus there will be live videos from ITV’s reporters on the ground in France streamed on ITV Football’s Facebook page.
Ed Ross, ITV Head of Marketing and Media for News, Sport, Factual and ITV4, said: “To bring this unique French Summer of Sport to life for our viewers, we are very proud to announce two unique partnerships which are aimed at capturing the spirit of the excitement and action that lies ahead.
“Eric Cantona is an extraordinary figure in sporting culture, who is able to convey in his singular way how and why so many of us are consumed by big sporting moments such as those coming up this summer.
“And Copa90 are leading the way in engaging with football fan culture across the world, so our partnership with them presents a new opportunity to enrich our coverage of the action on the pitch with an insight into how the Euros impact on supporters on the ground across the continent as the tournament progresses.
“For us, our campaign is all about helping fans to engage with what we hope will be an unforgettable summer of sporting action and we can’t wait to get started.”
James Kirkham, head of Copa90 and Chief Strategy Officer of Copa90 owner BigBalls Media, said: “People talk about being responsive, or creating quickly, or mining the views of fans.
“Nobody has ever delivered something like this that’s so ambitious and exciting around a tournament.”
“I’m so thrilled we are working with ITV to pull this off and genuinely believe this is going to become the template for all future sports coverage of major events.
“Quite simply, people demand authenticity and legitimacy and the perspective of the fans.
“For us to turn around such quality content so quickly and follow the stories which truly matter from the people who matter most is going to shake things up.”
