How to unblock BBC Radio 5 to hear the best of soccer

BBC Radio 5 is a national radio station from the United Kingdom that streams live audio of many of the best soccer matches worldwide. Those include select Premier League games as well as the World Cup, FA Cup and other soccer competitions. While BBC Radio 5 Live is free for listeners outside of the United Kingdom, sometimes broadcasts are blocked due to rights restrictions. So, here are step-by-step instructions of how to unblock BBC Radio 5 from the United States.

It’s worth noting that BBC Radio 5 Live is commercial-free unlike competitor talkSPORT, which runs commercials. Plus, when BBC Radio Five Live isn’t streaming radio commentary of soccer matches, it features informative news and discussion programming that we highly recommend.

The best VPN for unblocking BBC Radio 5 broadcasts

In order to unblock radio commentaries of your favorite games, you need a VPN which is a virtual private network that’s a secure “tunnel” between your device and the Internet. VPNs protect you from snooping, interference, and censorship.

We use Nord VPN daily and have found it to be one of the most reliable and trustworthy VPNs (virtual private network) available.

Plus VPNs are easy to use, so don’t be intimidated if you haven’t used one before.

Unblock BBC Radio 5: Steps

Here’s how to unblock BBC Radio 5:

1. Go ahead and sign up for Nord VPN
2. Choose a server from the United Kingdom
3. Start listening to BBC Radio 5

With Nord VPN, you can use it on any device — your phone, tablet, computer, router — no matter where you are or what devices you’re using.

Plus the Nord VPN website has a wealth of resources. And they have live 24-hour customer support to help answer any questions you may have.

The BBC Radio 5 difference

Many of the best commentators from around the world started at the BBC, where they honed their skills before moving into television. Just a few of the well known examples that graced BBC Radio 5 earlier in their careers include Peter Drury, Jon Champion, Martin Tyler and Arlo White.

Nowadays, BBC Radio 5 features several excellent commentators and analysts. Our personal favorites are commentators Ian Dennis and Conor McNamara, as well as analyst Pat Nevin.

The difference with BBC Radio 5 is that they don’t take themselves too seriously. So there may be some laughter and light comedy during or before games. But when they do get serious, you get expert analysis from some of the sharpest minds in the game. Many of whom are many of the sharpest minds in world football.

Meanwhile, one of the added benefits of listening to BBC Radio 5 is that you can hear it while you’re at work or driving. Listening to BBC Radio 5 through Nord VPN is far more enjoyable, and cheaper than SiriusXM. Plus BBC Radio 5 has no commercials unlike the commercial-heavy SiriusXM FC channel.

Plus with BBC Radio 5, you can download their app, or listen to it through Tunein or other streaming services. If it’s blocked due to rights restrictions, just log in via Nord VPN to get around it.

How to maximize your game experience

There are other benefits to listening to games on BBC Radio 5.

For instance, if you’re like some of us who get aggravated, at times, by select commentators on television, you can sync up the audio from BBC Radio 5 with the visuals from your TV broadcast. The end result is a more pleasurable game experience.

The other advantage of this method is that the radio commentary often features a better atmosphere on radio. The crowd noise is significantly louder on BBC Five Live compared to television. Even better, the commentator on radio is often more excitable than a TV commentator. He or she is often more descriptive, too.

What BBC 5 Radio Live features

So, what leagues and competitions does BBC Radio 5 feature? While not a complete list, they have live games from Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup and the FIFA World Cup. Browse through BBC Radio 5’s schedule to see their full lineup.

In summary, anytime there’s a big soccer game on, and you can’t watch it on television or streaming, listen to BBC Radio 5. And if the audio is blocked, give a VPN such as Nord VPN a go to remove the restrictions.