ESPN soccer coverage

Everyone in the United States knows ESPN. For years, the Disney-based company dominated the sports media industry. However, soccer always persisted as one of their lesser-covered sports.

With a number of new deals and a commitment to soccer in the United States, it now seems like a major soccer hub.

As a channel, there is a wealth of content. More often than not, this content comes from outside the realm of soccer. For instance, the majority of content on the channel is studio shows. The likes of First Take, countdown shows and of course SportsCenter control the air time.

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Even then, notable games frequently make it to the channel. Certainly soccer falls a bit on the pecking order for priority on scheduling. Most of the soccer content provided by the family of networks falls to the paid-streaming service, ESPN+.

Still, the channel itself features a solid amount of soccer content. This includes games, studio shows and highlights.

There is availability on almost every major provider in the United States. No less can be expected out of the ‘worldwide leader in sports’. The channel will be on cable television as well as both DirecTV and Dish. Furthermore, streaming services like Hulu, fuboTV, YouTube TV and Sling all carry the channel.

Essentially, if you have some sort of provider in the United States, it is more than likely you have access. Keep in mind, this channel is almost entirely English-language content. ESPN Deportes carries the Spanish side of their coverage.

Now that we know if you have this channel, let’s see what soccer content appears on the main channel.

ESPN Soccer Content

Most people care about the games. In that regard, the channel presents games from different countries and competitions. As a network, ESPN holds the rights to LaLiga, Bundesliga, Eredivisie, UEFA World Cup Qualifying, a number of domestic cups, and other leagues. However, only a select handful of games appear on the channel itself.

The main league to feature is Major League Soccer. The channel competes with Fox Sports 1 when it broadcasts games. Usually, games on Sunday night in the MLS appear on the channel. At that time, the network will surely lose viewers to Sunday Night Football. Still, Sunday night MLS action traditionally features the biggest game of the week. The MLS Cup Final and some playoff games also go here.

Outside of American soccer, European games also go to the channel. The first LaLiga game to be on broadcast television featured on the main channel for its inaugural weekend. Barcelona hosted Real Sociedad, and a full studio crew made the trip to Camp Nou to kick off the season.

Similarly, UEFA competitions, like the UEFA Nations League Final or European Championship, appear on the main channel. Furthermore, every game of Euro 2020 made it to broadcast TV in the U.S. via the channel.

Outside of the games themselves, There are a number of studio shows, and soccer fans will want to check out ESPN FC.

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This show covers soccer news and scores from throughout the world’s game. Highlights, discussion and debate allow soccer fans to get a broad grasp on what is happening each day.