Nations League, Euros qualifiers, and friendlies will be shown by free-to-air broadcaster

England v Panama

Channel 4 has won the rights to air England’s UEFA Nations League matches, European Qualifiers to UEFA EURO 2024 and international friendlies.

Sky Sports had held the rights to the Nations League and this will be the first time that the competition has been on terrestrial TV in the UK, with ITV showing Euros qualifiers before this announcement. With World Cup games being broadcast by the BBC and ITV, it means that all England games will be shown free-to-air until 2024.

In total, 20 live matches will be shown by Channel 4 between 2022 and 2024. They arrive on the channel as it ramps up its sports content, with England cricket, the British & Irish Lions, Ireland rugby union games, the Paralympics, and more beng aired recently by the broadcaster. It has also captured eye-catching one-off deals to show Emma Raducanu’s US Open victory and the final F1 race of the 2021 season.

England Nations League matches to be shown by Channel 4 in 2021

4 June - Hungary vs England

7 June - Germany vs England

11 June – England vs Italy

14 June – England vs Hungary

23 September – Italy vs England

26 September – England vs Germany

Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon said: “As a life-long committed football fan I am personally so delighted that we have these matches on the channel which further reinforce our reputation as a top quality sport broadcaster having been named Sports Network of the Year at this year’s British Sports Journalism Awards.”

Channel 4’s chief ontent officer Ian Katz added: “After bringing some of the biggest sporting moments of last year to the nation, I’m delighted that Channel 4 will be airing so many mouth-watering England matches on free to air television.

“This deal shows Channel 4 can compete for some of the biggest properties in sport and will bring substantial new audiences to our award-winning slate of original programming.”

Channel 4’s head of sport Pete Andrews said: “England matches against Germany are always an exciting prospect and I’m sure the team will be keen to set the record straight against Italy after the defeat in the final of the UEFA EURO.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have secured this deal with UEFA and I’m sure England fans will be looking forward to the summer with great anticipation.”