The first European Qualifiers of 2015 take place this weeked with the fifth 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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| FRIDAY 27th MARCH |
| ENGLAND v Lithuania Group E | 19:45 |
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| SUNDAY 29th MARCH |
| Georgia v Germany Group D | 17:00 |
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England continue their qualification quest to Euro 2016 in France as they take on Lithuania under the floodlights at Wembley on Friday evening, exclusively live on ITV.
As the Three Lions embark on their first international of 2015, Roy Hodgson’s side will look to maintain their 100 per cent qualifying win record as they sit on top of the group E table after wins against Switzerland, Estonia, San Marino and Slovenia.
The emergence of Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane and the continuing development of Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling means Hodgson won’t be short of attacking options.
Lithuania lie joint second in Group E with Switzerland and Slovenia, having won two and lost two of their qualifiers so far.
Mark Pougatch presents ITV’s live coverage from Wembley, hosting his first England international for the channel since the departure of Adrian Chiles.
He will be alongside regular ITV 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.
On Sunday evening, ITV4 will be screening live action from Group D as world champions Germany travel to Tbilisi to face Georgia, hoping to close the gap on leaders Poland, with the group also containing Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.
Matt Smith presents ITV4’s live coverage alongside studio guests Dietmar Hamann and Uwe Rosler, with Joe Speight and Dean Ashton providing match commentary.
Also on Sunday, ITV4 will also screen a comprehensive highlights show rounding all the European Qualifiers action from Matchday 5, featuring Scotland’s clash against Gibraltar, Wales’ tough trip to Israel and Northern Ireland’s home clash against Finland.
As well as the European Qualifiers, ITV Sport will also screen live coverage three major live friendlies during the March international break, starting with France’s home clash against Brazil in Paris on Thursday, March 26, live on ITV4.
This will be followed on Sunday afternoon by the Brazilian’s trip to Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium as they take on fellow South American rivals Chile, while on Tuesday night (March 31) England travel to Turin to face Italy, with both games live and free on ITV.
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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| SATURDAY 28th MARCH |
| Israel v WALES Group B | 17:00 |
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| SUNDAY 29th MARCH |
| SCOTLAND v Gibraltar Group D | 17:00 |
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| NORTHERN IRELAND v Finland Group F | 17:00 |
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| REPUBLIC OF IRELAND v Poland Group D | 19:45 |
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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.
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 the other Sky Sports channels.
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 5
Friday 27th March
ENGLAND v LITHUANIA – Group E
Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.15pm-10.00pm ITV
SPAIN v UKRAINE – Group C
Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.00pm-10.00pm Sky Sports 5
Live games via Red Button/app on Sky Sports 5 (all k/o 19:45)
– Macedonia v Belarus
– Slovakia v Luxembourg
– Slovenia v San Marino
– Switzerland v Estonia
– Liechtenstein v Austria
– Moldova v Sweden
– Montenegro v Russia
Match Highlights
Euro 2016 Qualifiers
Featuring: England v Lithuania
10.40pm-11.40pm ITV
European Qualifiers
Featuring: England v Lithuania
10.00pm-10.30pm Sky Sports 5
Saturday 28th March ISRAEL v WALES – Group B Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.30pm-7.30pm Sky Sports 5 NETHERLANDS v TURKEY – Group A Kick-off: 19:45 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) – Kazakhstan v Iceland (15:00) – Czech Republic v Latvia (17:00) – Azerbaijan v Malta (17:00) – Croatia v Norway (17:00) – Andorra v Bosnia-Herzegovina – Belgium v Cyprus – Bulgaria v Italy Match Highlights European Qualifiers 10.00pm-10.30pm Sky Sports 5
Sunday 29th March NORTHERN IRELAND v FINLAND – Group F Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.30pm-7.30pm Sky Sports 5 SCOTLAND v GIBRALTAR – Group D Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.30pm-7.00pm Sky Sports 1 GEORGIA v GERMANY – Group D Kick-off: 17:00 LIVE: 4.40pm-7.00pm ITV4 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND v POLAND – Group D Kick-off: 19:45 LIVE: 7.30pm-10.00pm Sky Sports 5 Live games via Red Button on Sky Sports 5 (all k/o 19:45 unless stated) – Romania v Albania (17:00) – Albania v Armenia (17:00) – Hungary v Greece – Portugal v Serbia 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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