ITV will show live and exclusive coverage of all England men’s football matches outside of the major tournament finals.
- The UEFA deal includes all England Men’s Qualifiers, UEFA Nation League ties and friendlies between major tournaments.
- The deal covers September 2024 until June 2028, securing ongoing free-to-air TV coverage.
- It deals a blow to Channel 4, the current home of England games.
- ITV already shares the rights to Euro 2028 with the BBC.
The first qualifying campaign to be shown live on ITV will be England’s bid to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals in North America, followed by the European Qualifiers to UEFA Euro 2028.
All matches – home and away – for both campaigns will be shown across ITV.
In total at least 40 matches – approximately ten each season – will be shown by ITV over the period this new rights deal covers.
ITV had previously held the rights for England European Qualifiers from 2018 until 2022.
In April 2022, Channel 4 announced it had secured the rights to screen England games free-to-air. As part of the new broadcast deal, Channel 4 also brought all England UEFA Nations League games to free-to-air television. The broadcaster, originally known for its coverage of minority sports and international football, had been attempting to gain a bigger foothold in TV sports coverage in addition to its ongoing partnership with Sky Sports.
Niall Sloane, ITV Director of Sport, commented:
“We’re delighted to bring the England men’s team back to ITV, which keeps coverage of their progress between major tournaments on free to air television. We have an experienced team here who are looking forward to bringing viewers all the action and insight from England’s qualification campaigns in the coming years.”
ITV currently holds the rights to show both UEFA Euro 2024 and UEFA Euro 2028, sharing coverage with the BBC. ITV also holds broadcast rights for England Women’s football team matches until 2025 and shared rights for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
UK TV rights for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup remain to be confirmed.
Marc Thornham