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Timeline of football on UK television facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

This is a timeline showing how football has been shown on television in the UK. It covers the biggest moments, from the very first broadcast to how we watch games today.

Early Days: Football on TV Begins (1930s-1940s)

The First Football Broadcasts

  • 1937
    • 16 September – The BBC made history with the world's first ever TV broadcast of a football match! It was a special local derby game between Arsenal and their reserve team.
  • 1938
    • 30 April – The BBC showed the FA Cup for the very first time on television.
  • 1939
    • 1 September – The BBC Television service stopped broadcasting because World War II was about to begin.

Football Returns After the War

  • 1940 to 1945
    • No football was shown on TV during World War II because television services were closed.
  • 1946
    • 7 June – BBC Television started broadcasting again.
    • 19 October – The first live football match after the war was shown by the BBC. They showed parts of a game between Barnet and Wealdstone before it got too dark to see!
  • 1947
  • 1948
    • 10 August – An evening football match was shown live for the first time. It was also the first time two foreign teams played on UK TV! Sweden played Denmark in the Olympic football tournament semi-finals at Wembley. This was also the first time an international football tournament was shown on TV.
    • 13 August – Two full football matches were shown live on the same day for the first time. These were the bronze medal match and the final of the Olympic tournament, both at Wembley.
  • 1949

Growing Coverage: The 1950s

World Cup and European Football on TV

  • 1954
    • 16 June-4 July – The FIFA World Cup was shown by the BBC for the first time, with some matches broadcast live.
  • 1955
    • The 1955 Scottish Cup Final between Celtic and Clyde was the first final in Scotland to be shown live on TV.
    • The new European Cup started, and both the BBC and the new ITV channel began showing this exciting midweek tournament right away.
  • 1958
    • 8–29 June – More matches from the World Cup were shown than in 1954, thanks to the new Eurovision Network. Live games were available on both the BBC and ITV, which was covering a World Cup for the first time.

New Shows and Colour TV: The 1960s

Live League Games and Match of the Day

  • 1960
  • 1962
    • 30 May-17 June – The 1962 World Cup in Chile was shown by the BBC, but with a delay. Film of the matches was flown back to Britain, so games were usually seen three days after they were played. ITV did not show this tournament.
    • 22 September – ITV started showing football again, but slowly. Anglia Television launched Match of the Week, which showed highlights from games in East Anglia. Soon after, Tyne Tees Television in the North East started showing local matches called Shoot.
  • 1964
    • 15 August – Scottish Television launched Scotsport Results to give Scottish viewers updates on the day's football.
    • 22 August – The very first broadcast of the BBC's famous football show Match of the Day happened. It was shown on the recently launched BBC Two.
  • 1965
    • 22 August – Football highlights began to be shown in the Midlands with ATV launching Star Soccer. Other regions also started their own highlights shows around this time.
  • 1966
  • 1968
    • 25 August – The first episode of The Big Match was broadcast. This show was mainly for the London Weekend Television area, but other ITV regions would show it if they didn't have their own local games.
    • ITV launched On the Ball, a show that looked ahead to the day's football matches.
    • 2 November – The first Match of the Day was shown in colour on BBC 2.
  • 1969
    • Slow motion replays were introduced into the BBC's football coverage, letting viewers see key moments again.

New Channels and Rights Battles: The 1970s-1980s

International Games and Competition for Rights

  • 1973
    • 26 September – Scottish and Grampian TV showed a live Scotland home international match for the first time.
    • 17 October – ITV showed a home England international live from Wembley for the first time.
  • 1974
    • August – The lunchtime preview show Football Focus launched.
  • 1975
    • 9 August – Sportscene was broadcast for the first time, mainly showing highlights of Scottish football.
  • 1978
    • London Weekend Television tried to get exclusive rights to all league football for ITV. This was called Snatch of the Day. Even though it was blocked, the BBC had to let ITV take over the Saturday night slot every other season, starting in 1980–81.
  • 1983
    • 2 October – ITV showed a live top-flight football match for the first time since 1960. This meant English football was now shown across the whole country, not just in different regions.
  • 1985
    • Domestic football in England wasn't shown on TV for the first half of the 1985–86 season.
    • 17 September – Screensport started showing the Football League Super Cup and the Freight Rover Trophy.
    • 5 October – ITV's football preview show became its own programme, called Saint & Greavsie, and a separate results show called Results Service was launched.
  • 1986
    • 11 January – Televised football returned to England when the BBC showed a live FA Cup match.
    • 20 April – The game between Hearts and Aberdeen was the first league match in Scotland to be shown live.
    • 16 August – The FA Charity Shield was shown live in full for the first time by ITV.
  • 1987
    • July – Screensport made a deal to show 34 recorded matches via cable and satellite, meaning it was the only place to get extended highlights of the league.
  • 1988
    • 14 May – The FA Cup Final was shown on both the BBC and ITV for the last time together. ITV wouldn't show the FA Cup again until 1997.
    • 5 September – S4C launched a sports programme called Sgorio, which showed highlights of European football, including games from La Liga and Serie A.
    • 30 October – ITV started showing a live top-flight English football game every Sunday afternoon, after signing a new four-year deal.
    • The BBC became the only broadcaster of the FA Cup, and Match of the Day was renamed Match of the Day: The Road to Wembley as it only aired on Cup weekends.
  • 1989

The Rise of Sky and Pay TV: The 1990s

Premier League and New Channels

  • 1990
    • 18 August – The Charity Shield was shown live on satellite television for the first time by BSB's Sports Channel.
    • November – For the first time, a live game from the first two rounds of the FA Cup was shown live by BSB's Sports Channel.
  • 1992
    • 18 May – Sky Sports outbid ITV for the live rights to the new Premier League, paying a huge £304 million.
    • 27 June – Because ITV lost the rights to top-flight football, Saint & Greavsie was broadcast for the final time.
    • 15 August – Sky Sports launched Sports Saturday, a programme similar to the BBC's Grandstand, with a mix of sports and football results.
    • 16 August – To celebrate Sky Sports' coverage of the Premier League, they launched Super Sunday, an afternoon-long programme that ended with a football round-up called Scorelines.
    • 17 August – Monday Night Football started on Sky Sports, showing Premier League matches on Monday evenings for the first time in the UK.
    • August – ITV kept its partnership with the Football League and began showing matches from the second tier of English football, often live on Sunday afternoons in different regions.
    • 6 September – The first episode of Football Italia was broadcast on Channel 4, showing Serie A matches. It was very popular, attracting over 3 million viewers at its peak.
    • 16 September – ITV showed its first matches from the new UEFA Champions League, after losing the Premier League rights.
  • 1993
  • 1994
    • 18 May – The BBC showed the 1994 European Cup Final, ending its long connection with Europe's top club tournament.
    • 17 June–17 July – Eurosport was the only channel to show full coverage of the group stages of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, as the BBC and ITV only showed selected games. This was the last time terrestrial broadcasters only showed selected live World Cup coverage.
  • 1995
    • The first episode of Soccer AM, a Saturday morning football comedy/talk show, was broadcast on Sky Sports.
  • 1996
    • ITV lost the live rights to the Football League to Sky Sports, meaning its main channel no longer showed live domestic football.
    • 16 August – Sky Sports 3 launched, becoming the main channel for Sky's coverage of the Football League and the Scottish Premier League (SPL) across the UK for the first time.
  • 1997
    • 31 May – Channel 5 bought the rights to show one of England's qualifying matches for the 1998 World Cup.
    • Autumn – Football on 5 became a regular show, as Channel 5 bought rights to UEFA Cup games and away qualifying matches for the home nations.
  • 1998
    • February – Middlesbrough Football Club launched Boro TV, becoming the first football club in the world to have its own dedicated TV channel.
    • 28 February – The 1998 Africa Cup of Nations Final was shown live on Channel 4, the first time this tournament was seen in the UK.
    • 15 August – On the first day of the 1998–99 football season, the first episode of Soccer Saturday was broadcast, becoming the UK's first afternoon-long football scores service.
    • 5 September – ITV brought back On the Ball and used The Big Match as the title for its football coverage again.
    • 10 September – MUTV launched.
    • 1 October – Sky Digital launched, and with it, the UK's first 24-hour sports news channel, Sky Sports News, with football news as a key part.
    • 7 December – ITV launched ITV2, which included extra football coverage like a Saturday afternoon scores service called Football First.
  • 1999
    • September – Champions on 28 and Champions on 99 launched, showing live and recorded coverage of the UEFA Champions League for ONdigital customers.

Digital Era and New Players: The 2000s

Pay-Per-View and Channel Changes

  • 2000
    • 5–14 January – The BBC showed the first ever FIFA Club World Cup.
    • 15 June – ITV won the rights to show Premier League highlights from the BBC for £183 million. Sky kept its exclusive live coverage.
    • September – ONsport launched, replacing the Champions channels and focusing mostly on football.
  • 2001
    • 30 May-10 June – Channel 5 broadcast the FIFA Confederations Cup.
    • 11 August –
      • The ITV Sport Channel launched, replacing ONsport. It focused heavily on football after ONdigital bought rights to show live matches from The Football League and the League Cup for a huge £315 million.
      • Football Focus and Final Score became standalone programmes, no longer just segments within Grandstand.
    • 13 August – Chelsea TV launched.
    • 18 August –
      • PremPlus launched, showing pay-per-view Premier League coverage for the first time in the UK.
      • ITV began its Premier League highlights programme The Premiership in a prime-time slot at 7pm. However, ITV lost the rights to the FA Cup, and the England football team returned to the BBC.
      • ITV relaunched its live scores service as The Goal Rush.
    • September – The rights to the FA Cup and the England football team returned to the BBC.
    • 17 November – After disappointing viewing figures, ITV moved The Premiership back to the traditional 10:30pm slot.
  • 2002
    • Channel 4 stopped showing Serie A after a decade.
    • 27 March – ITV Digital went out of business, largely due to the high cost of the Football League deal.
    • 12 May – The ITV Sports Channel stopped broadcasting.
    • August – Coverage of the Football League and the League Cup returned to Sky Sports after just one season with ITV.
    • Channel 5 bought the rights to the Scottish League Cup for two seasons.
  • 2003
    • May – ITV stopped its football scores service, ending The Goal Rush.
    • Sky Sports showed games from the UEFA Champions League for the first time.
  • 2004
    • 15 May – The Premiership and On the Ball were shown for the final time after ITV lost the Premier League highlights rights.
    • 26 July – Celtic TV and Rangers TV launched.
    • August – Football First launched on Sky Sports, allowing viewers to choose which game they wanted to watch.
    • August – ITV launched a new regional football highlights programme Soccer Night, focusing on Football League clubs.
    • August – Irish sports broadcaster Setanta Sports took over from the BBC as the UK rights holder for the Scottish Premier League.
    • 14 August – The BBC launched Score Interactive, an afternoon-long football scores service on the BBC Red Button, as it regained Premier League highlights rights.
    • 15 August – Match of the Day 2 launched to show highlights of Sunday Premier League matches on BBC Two.
  • 2005
    • 22 May – Sky Sports showed the final of the 2004-05 FA Trophy.
  • 2006
    • 22 May – Sky launched its high-definition service with Sky Sports 1 HD.
    • August – The European Union wanted to break up Sky's control over football TV rights. So, the 2007 contract was split into smaller packages. Sky won most, but Setanta Sports got two packages.
    • 25 August – Setanta Sports started showing regular non-league football by acquiring the rights to the Football Conference.
    • September – Bravo and Setanta Sports jointly took over coverage of Serie A.
  • 2007
    • 6 May – PremPlus closed.
    • May – Monday Night Football ended its first run because Sky lost the rights to Monday evening Premier League matches to Setanta Sports.
    • 11 August – Live Premier League matches were shown on a non-Sky Sports channel for the first time, as Setanta Sports showed its first games.
    • September – Five gained the rights to broadcast Serie A highlights and live games, returning the show to terrestrial television under the name Football Italiano.
    • 20 September – LFC TV, a dedicated channel for Liverpool F.C., launched.
    • 23 December – Bravo stopped showing Serie A due to low viewing figures.
  • 2008
    • 14 January – Arsenal TV launched.
    • May – ITV's regional football highlights programme Soccer Night was stopped.
    • 17 May – Sky Sports showed FA Cup football for the final time.
    • 27 June – Five ended its Serie A coverage.
    • September – ITV started showing the FA Cup and the England football team again. This meant the BBC had no rights to the FA Cup for the very first time.
  • 2009
    • 22 June – It was announced that ESPN would take over the Premier League games previously shown on Setanta Sports, after Setanta failed to make a payment.
    • 23 June – Setanta Sports stopped broadcasting in the UK. Football club channels like Celtic TV and Rangers TV also closed, though they later returned online.
    • 4 August – ESPN launched in the UK, taking over many rights from Setanta Sports, including the Premier League. It later added the Scottish Premier League, FA Cup, and Europa League.
    • Live coverage of the Football League returned to British terrestrial television, with the BBC securing 10 live Championship games per season and Football League highlights.
    • September – Channel 5 became the main broadcaster of the UEFA Europa League, allowing it to show the entire tournament, including the final.

Modern Football on TV: The 2010s

Streaming, New Channels, and Women's Football

  • 2010
    • 18 January – The BBC launched a regional football show called Late Kick Off.
    • August –
      • Monday Night Football returned after Sky regained the rights to Monday night Premier League games.
      • S4C started showing a live match from the Welsh Premier League every Saturday afternoon.
    • 19 August – Premier Sports announced it had bought the live rights to thirty matches per season from the Conference National.
  • 2011
  • 2012
    • 9 May – Channel 5's fifteen years of showing Europe's second-tier football competition ended with the 2012 UEFA Europa League Final. The main rights transferred to ITV.
    • 12 June – BT won the rights to 38 Premier League matches each season, taking them from ESPN UK.
    • 28 July – Football on 5 ended as Channel 5 stopped showing live football.
    • August – Match of the Day 2 moved to BBC One.
  • 2013
    • January – Eurosport took over as broadcaster of Serie A.
    • BBC Two broadcast four programmes covering the FA Women's Super League.
    • August – BT Sport took over as broadcaster of the Football Conference.
    • 1 August – BT Sport launched.
    • 9 November – BT announced a huge £897 million deal with UEFA to show the Champions League and Europa League exclusively on BT Sport from the 2015–16 season. This ended two decades of the competition being shown free-to-air on ITV.
  • 2014
    • 12 August – Sky launched Sky Sports 5, mainly to show European football like the Eredivisie.
    • The BBC regained the rights to the FA Cup, sharing it with BT Sport. ITV kept the contract to show the England football team.
    • Premier Sports brought the Belgian Pro League to British screens for the first time.
  • 2015
    • 25 May – The Football League Show and Late Kick Off ended after six seasons, as Channel 5 took over the Football League highlights rights.
    • 6 June – After 23 seasons, ITV's live broadcasting of the UEFA Champions League ended. All live coverage moved to BT Sport.
    • July – Premier Sports started showing UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League qualifiers involving British teams.
    • 1 August – BT Sport launched a fourth channel, BT Sport Europe, for European football and rugby.
    • 2 August – BT Sport broadcast the FA Community Shield for the first time.
    • 8 August – Football returned to Channel 5 as it took over the contract to broadcast highlights of the Football League and the League Cup. It launched two new programmes, The Championship and The Goal Rush, under the revived Football on 5 banner.
    • September – BT Sport became the exclusive broadcaster of both of UEFA's club competitions.
    • Sky started showing live coverage of Major League Soccer.
  • 2016
    • 12 April – The Football Association confirmed a new deal with BT TV and the BBC to air coverage of the FA Cup until 2021, also increasing coverage of women's football.
    • 22 May – BT Sport showed the finals of the FA Vase and FA Trophy.
    • 11 June – Premier Sports began covering Copa América.
    • 2 August – Premier Sports became one of the rights holders for the expanded Scottish Challenge Cup.
    • 4 August – BT Sport Europe was rebranded as BT Sport 3.
    • 13 August – BT Sport launched its football scores programme BT Sport Score.
    • 19 August – Live Premier League football was shown on Friday evenings regularly for the first time as part of a new broadcasting deal.
    • 25 August – The BBC launched a new Premier League magazine show called The Premier League Show.
  • 2017
    • 18 July – Sky Sports was revamped, with numbered channels replaced by sport-specific channels, including two dedicated to football.
    • September –
      • Sky started showing five matches a season from the NIFL Premiership.
      • The BBC began showing regular live coverage of the FA Women's Super League on the BBC Red Button.
  • 2018
    • 14 February – BT and Sky agreed a £4.4bn deal to show live Premiership football matches from 2019 to 2022.
    • 6 May – Football League Tonight was broadcast for the final time, ending Channel 5's three-year deal.
    • 9 May – The final edition of The Premier League Show was broadcast.
    • Sky's long coverage of La Liga ended as rights transferred to Eleven Sports.
    • 7 June – It was announced that Amazon Prime had won the rights to livestream 20 Premier League matches a season.
    • August –
      • BT Sport became the exclusive holder of all rights to the UEFA Champions League, meaning there was no free-to-air coverage for the first time.
      • Eleven Sports UK and Ireland launched as a streaming service with deals for European football leagues.
    • 8 August – EFL on Quest was broadcast for the first time, as highlights rights for the English Football League moved to Quest.
    • 6 September – Sky Sports became the exclusive broadcaster of football's new UEFA Nations League tournament.
    • November – Premier Sports announced a 6-year deal to show the Scottish Cup from 2019.
  • 2019
    • January – Eleven Sports gave up most of its football rights, passing many to Premier Sports.
    • 9 May – The BBC broadcast the final edition of The Premier League Show.
    • 30 June – After 18 seasons, Chelsea TV closed as a linear channel, continuing online only.
    • 3 December – Amazon Prime showed its first live Premier League football matches.
    • 8 December – BT Sport broadcast the Scottish League Cup for the final time, with rights transferring to Premier Sports.

Football in the 2020s: Pandemic and New Deals

  • 2020
    • 13 January – Premier Sports launched La Liga TV, a full-time channel showing Spain's La Liga.
    • February – FreeSports began showing the Japanese J-league.
    • 30 May – FreeSports began showing the Polish Ekstraklasa and Danish Superliga.
    • June – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the Premier League announced all remaining matches would be shown on British television, with many free-to-air. The BBC carried live matches for the first time in league history.
    • 16 June – Eurosport began showing Norway's top domestic football competition Eliteserien.
    • 1 August – Sky Sports became the exclusive broadcaster of live coverage of the Scottish Professional Football League.
    • 8 September – All September's Premier League fixtures were shown on TV because fans couldn't be in stadiums.
    • 6 October – Premier Sports took over from BT Sport as broadcaster of the Scottish League Cup.
    • 9 October – The Premier League announced that some games would be shown on a pay-per-view basis.
    • 13 November – The Premier League confirmed that pay-per-view matches would end, and all games would be shown by Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime, or the BBC.
    • 27 November – FreeSports began showing matches from the 2020–21 Indian Super League season.
  • 2021
    • January – BBC Sport showed South American football for the first time, broadcasting the semi-finals and final of the 2020 Copa Libertadores.
    • 13 May – The Premier League announced that the next three-year broadcasting contract was awarded without a bidding process, keeping the same broadcasters and packages.
    • 13 June-10 July – The BBC showed 2021 Copa America for the first time on free-to-air television.
    • 7 August – The FA Community Shield returned to ITV Sport after six years with BT Sport.
    • 13 August – Sky Sports replaced BT Sport as broadcaster of Germany's Bundesliga and Supercup.
    • 21 August – Serie A football returned to BT Sport.
    • 3 September – Sky Sports replaced BT Sport as the pay-TV broadcast partner of the FA Women's Super League.
    • 17 September – ITV broadcast coverage of the England women's national football team for the first time.
    • 7 November – The FA Cup returned to ITV in a new deal with the BBC, sharing the rights. This was the first time since 1988 that the competition was shown fully and exclusively on terrestrial television.
  • 2022
    • 9 January – 6 February – The BBC and Sky Sports shared coverage of the African Cup of Nations.
    • 9 February – Channel 4 broadcast Chelsea's matches in the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup for the first time.
    • 11 April – BT Sport secured the rights to show live coverage of the Canadian Premier League.
    • 1 June – Premier Sports began broadcasting Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland UEFA Nations League matches.
    • 4 June – Channel 4 began showing live coverage of the England men's football team for the first time.
    • 31 July – Highlights rights to the English Football League and the League Cup moved to ITV.
    • 21 August – ITV showed the first of ten games from this season's LaLiga.
  • 2023
    • 27 May – Soccer AM ended after 28 years.
    • 28 May – BT Sport Score was broadcast for the final time as BT Sport prepared to become TNT Sports.
    • 20 July-20 August – The BBC and ITV broadcast the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, sharing coverage similar to the men's World Cup.

See also

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