The BBC will be the only place to watch live coverage of UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 after the corporation secured exclusive rights to the tournament which will be staged in England.
Extensive coverage of every game throughout the tournament will be broadcast across all of the BBC’s main platforms, including TV, radio and online.
The announcement follows on from the BBC’s coverage of the record-breaking 2019 FIFA World Cup in France, which saw England reach the semi-finals.
A huge peak TV audience of 11.7m tuned in to watch the Lionesses take on the United States in the semi-final making it the highest TV audience of 2019 to date, with the tournament reaching more than 28.1m people on TV alone, eclipsing the 12.4m record set in 2015.
The BBC has been the predominant home of major women’s international football tournaments on free-to-air television for the past 15 years, including the last time the UEFA Women’s Euros were staged in England back in 2005, but the corporation was surprisingly outbid by Channel 4 for rights to Euro 2017.
Commenting on the return of the UEFA Women’s European Championships to the BBC in 2021, director of BBC Sport, Barbara Slater, said:
“After the success of the World Cup on the BBC and the record-breaking viewing figures for women’s football, we’re delighted to be the broadcaster of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2021.
“At the start of this summer we wanted to shift the dial on women’s football and I feel the phenomenal coverage from France has done just that. The BBC’s sport portfolio continues to go from strength to strength and we’re thrilled to add the 2021 Euros to that.”
Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Marketing Director, added:
“UEFA is delighted to partner with the BBC for the UEFA Women’s EURO in 2021, which takes place in the United Kingdom. The BBC will provide an unprecedented level of coverage for the competition in the host country, ensuring that the women’s game is brought to the rapidly increasing fan base in an outstanding manner.”
BBC Sport’s coverage of women’s football throughout the 2019/20 season with a match streamed each round from the Women’s Super League, weekly editions of the Women’s Football Show, live women’s FA Cup football, including the semi-finals and final, as well as major international fixtures featuring the Home Nations.
