Euro 2016 Qualifiers TV Schedule For U.S Soccer Fans

Using the Champions League as their template, UEFA have completely revamped the scheduling of qualifying matches for Euro 2016. For starters, the 10 rounds of qualifying matches are referred to as “Matchdays”. Each Matchday will consist of three consecutive calendar days of matches that, in the case of the upcoming Matchday 1, will take place from Sunday through to Tuesday. Secondly, the kickoff times are set at 18.00 and 20.45 CET. Its worth mentioning that it’s not only matches in Russia and Azerbaijan that will have the early kickoffs.

The biggest change, however, is in the area of TV rights. Whereas past national team matches were sold separately by the respective Associations, UEFA have taken it upon themselves to sell the rights to the qualifiers themselves – again emulating the Champions League structure. In the US, FOX and ESPN will share the rights (in reality, it was Fox that won the bidding process and then subsequently sublicensed the rights to half the matches to ESPN). While at first thought, the consolidation of kickoff times could have limited the number of matches available live in the US, the fact that two networks with multiple outlets are handling the coverage works out fairly well for us fans in the US. Here is a rundown of LIVE matches for Matchday #1 (all times are ET):

Sunday, September 7^th:

ESPN:

12:00pm Denmark v Armenia (ESPN Deportes & ESPN3)
12:00pm Georgia v Rep. Ireland (ESPN3)
2:45pm Portugal v Albania (ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes)

2:45pm Greece v Romania (ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes on Monday, 4:45pm)

2:45pm Faroe Islands v Finland (ESPN3)

FOX:

12:00pm Hungary v No. Ireland (FoxSports-2 + Fox Deportes)

2:45pm Germany v Scotland (FoxSports-1 + Fox Deportes)
2:45pm Gibraltar v Poland (FoxSoccer-Plus)

Monday, September 8^th:

ESPN:

2:45pm Spain v Macedonia (ESPN Deportes & Espn3)

2:45pm Austria v Sweden (ESPN3/ ESPN Deportes on Tuesday, 4:45pm)
2:45pm Estonia v Slovenia (ESPN3)
2:45pm Montenegro v Moldova (ESPN3)

FOX:

12:00pm Russia v Liechtenstein (FoxSports-1)

2:45pm Switzerland v England (FoxSports-1)
2:45pm Ukraine v Slovakia (FoxSports-2)

2:45pm Luxembourg v Belarus (FoxSoccer-Plus)

Tuesday, September 9^th:

ESPN:

12:00pm Azerbaijan v Bulgaria (ESPN Deportes & Espn3)
2:45pm Czech Rep. v Netherlands (ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes)

2:45pm Croatia v Malta (ESPN3 / ESPN Deportes on Wednesday at 4:00am)

2:45pm Iceland v Turkey (ESPN3)

FOX:

12:00pm Kazakhstan v Latvia (FoxSports-1)
2:45pm Norway v Italy (FoxSports-1)

2:45pm Andorra v Wales (FoxSports-2)

2:45pm Bosnia-Herzegovina v Cyprus (FoxSoccer-Plus)

Televised International Friendlies:

Programming note: For viewers in the United States, Brazil National Team games are being shown exclusively on beIN SPORTS, beIN SPORTS Espanol and DishWorld. Even if you don’t have a TV subscription to beIN SPORTS, you can access those channels via online streaming service DishWorld for $10/month. Read our review of DishWorld. And sign up for DishWorld via their website.

Wednesday, September 3^rd:

2:15pm Czech Rep. v USA (NBCSN, UniMas & Univision Deportes)
2:45pm Germany v Argentina (ESPNews & ESPN Deportes)
3:00pm England v Norway (FoxSports-2 & Fox Deportes)

Thursday, September 4th:

3:00pm France v Spain (ESPN Deportes & ESPN3)

Friday, September 5th:

6:20am Japan v Uruguay (ESPN3)

9:00pm Brazil v Colombia (in Miami) (beINSports-1 & ñ)

Saturday, September 6th:

10:00pm Mexico v Chile (in Santa Clara) (UniMas, Univision Deportes & ESPN3)

Sunday, September 7th:

2:45pm Serbia v France (FoxSports-2)

Tuesday, September 9th:

6:20am Japan v Venezuela (ESPN3)

8:30pm Brazil v Ecuador (in NY) (beINSports-1 & ñ)

10:00pm Mexico v Bolivia (in Colorado) (ESPN2, UniMas & Univision Deportes)

Edward Perovic is the publisher of soccertvblog.com – a source for schedules and US TV information for major European Leagues and International competitions.