European Football, Internationals and Non-British Football on TV

Pre - World Cup Friendlies:

Saturday am:

England v Peru - LIVE Sommet Sports  6.45 am    (replayed Sunday 2.30 pm)

Spain v Bolivia - LIVE ESPN 7.55 am

Sunday:

Netherlands v Ghana LIVE ESPN 6.25 am  (replayed 9 pm)

"Road to Rio" Preview Show TV One Sunday 12 pm - 1 pm (This week Portugal, Switzerland, Colombia, Croatia)

Next week on ESPN:

The numerous historical documentaries about football recently on ESPN have been great, as well as past World Cup matches.

Tuesday pm ESPN:

They are repeating the documentary "The Ceasefire Massacre" about Ireland at he 1994 World Cup and the win over Italy.

There was a terrorist attack at half-time on a bar in Northern Ireland at Louchinisland where Catholics and Protestants were watching the game and six died. Devastated the Irish team and all in both parts of Ireland. The Protestant UDF claimed responsibility.

But helped the peace process along - people were so disgusted on both sides, it contributed to a the ceasefire being called soon after.

A big NZ connection with this one - future All Whites coach Joe McGrath and future Otago coach Terry Phelan were technical director and fullback for the Ireland team at that time. They can be seen in the match footage. Ireland had to get at least a draw against Northern Ireland to qualify for the Finals - which they did in Belfast. Extra drama!

Joe McGrath can be seen behind Jack Charlton post-match. Terry Phelan can be seen acknowledging the crowd after the win over Italy at Giants Stadium in New York in the Finals.

Monday pm ESPN:

Two classic past World Cup matches - England v Argentina '86  and Germany v Argentina Final '86

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Tuesday 4.25 am: Sommet Sports

UNESCO Cup: Real Madrid All Stars v Juventus All Stars 

All star charity match with legends from the past.

Squads:

http://www.juventus.com/juve/en/news/juventus_real_madrid_unesco_cup_squads

The Bianconeri, under the stewardship of Gianluca Pessotto, will have the following players available:  

Alessio, Amoruso, Birindelli, Camoranesi, Carrera, Chimenti, Davids, Di Livio, Dimas, Ferrrara, Iuliano, Mirkovic, Montero, Nedved, Padovano, Porrini, Ravanelli, Tacchinardi, Tacconi, Torricelli, Tudor, Vieri, Vierchowod.

Over in the other dugout, Real Madrid’s Eugenio Martínez de las Heras has 19 names at his disposal:

Contreras, Carlos Sánchez, Fernando Sanz, Pavón, Hierro, De la Red, Butragueño, Amavisca, Morientes. Esnaider, Zidane, Seedorf, Karembeu, Makelele, Míchel Salgado, Velasco, Iván Pérez, Tote, Karanka.

New Eric Cantona football doco series "Football Rebels" available to watch here for free - five 25 minute episodes:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/footballrebels...

Presented and narrated by former Manchester United star Eric Cantona, Football Rebels is a five-part documentary on five football legends whose social conscience led them to use their fame and influence to challenge unjust regimes, join opposition movements and lead the fight for democracy and human rights in their countries.

Cantona's own grandfather fled across the mountains from Spain to France in the wake of the Spanish Civil War on the run from Franco's fascists.

"Football is more than the opium of the people. It's about good intentions, noble hearts .... When your country's at war, your friends are killing each other and children are given rifles rather than footballs, so what if the whole world admires you! You have to act."

Eric Cantona

Didier Drogba and the Ivorian civil war

Mekhloufi and the FLN team

Predrag Pasic and the siege of Sarajevo

Caszely and the demise of Allende

Socrates and the Corinthians' Democracy

Story of Ossie Ardiles, Spurs, Argentina and the Falklands War

 "White, Blue and White" - ESPN 30 for 30 Soccer Series

Tuesday ESPN 11 pm

Video promo:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11162001

Marco Rojas will probably feature tomorrow morning in this friendly:

VfB Stuttgart vs. Sv Darmstadt 98 will be streaming here for free at 4.30 am NZT tomorrow morning:

http://www.laola1.tv/en-int/live/vfb-stuttgart-sv-...

A legal Austrian website (they operate VfB TV for the Stuttgart club) - some of their matches are only available in Germany and Austria.

Streams for free - no need to register or log on - (log on tab is for "Premium Membership" which you pay for & get ad-free in HD etc.)

But to watch in NZ and other countries, just download the "Hola" app, click on the icon at top right of your address bar and choose the "Austria" (or I guess "Germany") option. This fools the website into thinking you are in the appropriate territory.

Download "Hola" for free here for any device:

http://hola.org/download?list=1

LAOLA TV broadcasts Bundesliga, Austrian Bundesliga, la Liga etc.

LEAGUES THEY BROADCAST AND TERRITORIES:

PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES COMING UP ON ESPN:

http://www.livesoccertv.com/channels/espn-australi...

UPDATED ESPN FOOTBALL FRIENDLY SCHEDULE:

UEFA u-19 Final to determine the top dog in qualifying for FIFA u-20 World Cup NZ 2015 streaming live 5 am Friday morning (tomorrow):

Germany v Portugal

Streams here:

http://www.vipboxoc.co/football/240768/1/portugal-...

http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=271023...

How They Made the Final and Who Has Qualified for NZ 2015:

"The four semi-finalists, and the third-ranked team in each group at the final tournament, will qualify for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand (30 May–21 June 2015)."

Qualified: Portugal, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Serbia, Ukraine

Absolutely pathetic crowds for the Finals in Hungary the last couple of weeks - as low as 200.

http://www.uefa.com/under19/season=2014/standings/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_UEFA_European_Un...

Recent major club friendlies on demand for free:

Full matches:

http://livefootballvideo.com/fullmatch

http://www.matchhighlight.com/category/full-matche...

Highlights:

http://livefootballvideo.com/highlights

http://www.matchhighlight.com/category/latest-goal...

Full match: UEFA u-19 Final from Friday am NZT in qualifying for FIFA u-20 World Cup NZ:

(One video each half):

http://livefootballvideo.com/fullmatch/europe/euro...

Bayern Munchen v Chivas Guadalajara friendly from this week:

http://livefootballvideo.com/fullmatch/europe/euro...

Schalke Cup Pre-Season Football on Sommet this weekend and next week from Germany:

Newcastle, West Ham, Schalke, Malaga. Great stuff!!! Two day tournament, four games.

Just saw it up on the Freeview Program guide.

Will be interesting to compare how the Hammers and Newcastle do in this tournament compared to in NZ last week.

Schedule: Sunday 1 am : Newcastle Utd v Malaga (rpt 4 pm)

Sunday 9.30 pm Hammers v Schalke (delayed)

Monday 1 am Hammers v Malaga live (rpt 6.30 pm Tues.)

4 pm Newcastle v Schalke (delayed)

Liverpool TV on Sommet: they have pre-season games too.

Tuesday 9 pm- 12 am

(rpt. Thurs. 7 am - 10 am)

Up to Six Bundesliga Games a Week as Last Season on Sommet starting with German Super Cup Thurs. 14:

14/08/2014 04:00 NZT German Super Cup Dortmund v Bayern Munich

Bundesliga Round One:

23/08/2014 06:30 NZT BundesligaRound 1 Bayern Munich v Wolfsburg

24/08/2014 04:30 NZ TBundesliga Round 1 Dortmund v Leverkusen

25/08/2014 03:30 NZT Bundesliga Round 1 Monchengladbach v Stuttgart

Schedule from Setanta Sports Australia who supply Sommet's Bundesliga coverage:

http://www.setanta.com/au/Our-Sports/soccer/German...

With ESPN 2 coming to sky there will be more live champions league. also with it starting on sky go on monday, you should be able to watch the uefa super cup on there wednesday morning.

The UEFA Super Cup is also on ESPN delayed at 3 pm Wednesday.

Community Shield Arsenal v Man City is live on both ESPN and Sommet Sports 2 am Monday.

ESPN 2 COMING TO SKY TV IN NZ:

More live Champions League games, Major League Soccer, internationals etc. It's been on Fox in Australia for years.

http://www.skysport.co.nz/article/general/sport365...

On Monday September 1 ESPN will move to SKY channel 060 and ESPN2 will screen on SKY channel 061.

ESPN2 will be available on SKY GO from 11 August.

ESPN2 Football Schedule for next week:

http://www.livesoccertv.com/channels/espn-2-austra...

A feast of internationals on ESPN and ESPN 2 the next few weeks:

Euro Championship qualifiers / Brazil friendlies (including Brazil v Argentina) etc.

ESPN:

http://www.livesoccertv.com/channels/espn-australi...

ESPN 2:

http://www.livesoccertv.com/channels/espn-2-austra...

https://www.facebook.com/SommetSports

PRESS RELEASE 12 December 2014 SOMMET SPORTS

As at 12.00pm today free-to-air sports channel Sommet Sports will cease transmission.
Launched 18th July 2013, Sommet Sports has delivered both live and pre-recorded sports on Freeview Channel 14, and Sky Channel 69. Funding initially understood to be available for the channel upon launch had largely never materialised and Sommet has been forced to attempt to deliver a full nationwide broadcast channel on one third of the finance.
“I am totally gutted at not being able to sustain something that we have long held a fervent desire to deliver to New Zealanders. Sommet was born from a dream to deliver free sports to all kiwis. Sadly this dream is not to be.” says Andrew Reeves, Director of Sommet Sports Ltd. “We have been blown away by the amazing support and consistently growing viewership that we gained in such a short time. We can only thank our loyal fans who have stayed with us until the end.”
“Being the ‘new kids on the block“, we also struggled to gain a strong foothold with most advertising agencies. This coupled with an acute funding shortage has left us with the sad reality of having to make the difficult call.”
“I would like to thank OMD, Spark, McDonalds, KFC and Fiat Chrysler group for their support and belief in our vision of delivering ‘Free Sports for Kiwis’ “.

News story:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/64086066...

Clearly Sommet didn't make much impact if the journalist who wrote this (Duncan Johnstone, who's supposed to be a sports journalist) thinks "the operation lasted less than five months after being launched on July 18."

Burk - it of course lasted 17 months after launching July 18 2013.

Sky are broadcasting some ASB Premiership games I notice.

Tomorrow at 2 pm they are screening live Wellington Phoenix Reserves vs. WaiBOP from Eden Park

Sky Sport 4

Curtain-raiser to the A-League game.

Guess they are piggy-backing on the TV production gear being there for the A-League game.

SOMMET SPORTS SEEKS YOUR DONATIONS TO START AGAIN

Just over 24 hours left for Sommet Sports' croud funding campaign on Pledge Me.

Closes 6 pm tomorrow (Friday).

If you pledge something, nothing will be debited from your credit card unless the total aimed for is raised;

https://www.facebook.com/SommetSports

"We have now managed to negotiate to get 42 hours of sport each weekend on Freeview and Sky if we reach the 300,000 target as well as the 24/7 internet channel."

- will broadcast 24/7 online

- 42 hours each weekend on Freeview and Sky

Pledge here:

https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/3149-sommet-st...

There's heaps of football streaming free (and legally) on "TAB Watch and Bet" in NZ:

South Korea vs. Uzbekistan at midnight tonight our time:

https://www.tab.co.nz/sport/video/

Where it says "Schedule" change at right "Select Sport" to "Football'

You'll have to sign up by clicking on the top right of the TAB website in order to watch though.

They regularly show football matches - but only ones no one has the rights to in NZ.

Argentina, Brazil. Netherlands, Spain, Mexico, Australia internationals coming up.

A lot of internationals and Argentinian league on this Sunday morning:

and Monday morning:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

There's a new player in (legal) online football streaming in NZ:

"VS LIVE NZ"

http://www.vslive.co.nz/biography/

"VS Live was formally known as SKY ARENA. SKY ARENA previously owned by SKY Television New Zealand and VADR Media. In 2015 VADR Media acquired 100% of SKY ARENA shares and relaunched as VS LIVE."

"VS LIVE is New Zealand’s leading pay-per-view and broadcast events company.Partnering with VS LIVE gives you access to unique editorial and broadcast benefits. We provide partners with multiple channels to reach and engage with current and prospective customers. We are market leaders in the development of made for TV live events. Our portfolio of events includes live pay-per-view and free-to-air boxing, football, MMA and music events.

VS Live is the master franchise owner of SUPER 8 which has over 20 fighters in Australasia signed to it books. SUPER 8 is the world’s premier all-action fight night, it’s fast, furious and stacked with knock out action."

They have the "International Champions Cup" from Melbourne which starts this week:

http://www.vslive.co.nz/event/icc/

$29.95 all three games

$14.95 per single game

Schedule: July 18th – July 24th

Real Madrid CF [vs] AS Roma
9pm, Saturday, July 18

AS Roma [vs] Manchester City FC
9:45pm, Tuesday, July 21

Manchester City FC [vs] Real Madrid CF
9:45pm, Friday, July 24

not that I got to watch any of it, but Nelson's favourite European team Hajduk Split lost 2-3 to Slovenia's Koper. In 30 degrees.

They were 2-0 down, then went 3-1 down just before half-time. Sounds as though they could've knicked a point, based on UEFA's very brief live-updates.

But hopefully two valuable 'away' goals in any case.

And in other Croatia news, last year's 'real' champion Rijeka (of Kramarić to Leicester fame) just got flipped 0-3 at home to Aberdeen!

NOBODY saw that coming.

Brief goal highlights are on @bytheminAFC - and pretty good coverage, given the medium...

This is a very good read - how FC Midtjylland went from broke to Super Liga champions.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/27/ho...

BeIN Sports have snatched away the UEFA Champions League rights for Oceania from ESPN.

BeIN Sports is carried by Foxtel in Australia.

I suggest that fans contact Sky TV and suggest that they add BeIN Sports to their roster.

BeIN Sports broadcasts heaps of football.

BeIN Sports Australia website for info on what they show: http://www.beinsports.com.au/

Contact Sky here:

https://skytv.custhelp.com/app/contactus/emailus

Sky Sport Facebook - post a message:

https://www.facebook.com/skysportnz

Sky TV Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/SKYnewzealand

This is what I sent to them and posted on their Facebook:

"With the UK & European soccer seasons starting, what I want to know is, now that you have lost the UEFA Champions League (ESPN no longer have the rights), on top of you losing the English Premier League rights a couple of years ago, what are you going to do about it? I suggest that you ditch ESPN and add BeIN Sports which now has the Champions League rights for NZ & Oz (It's carried by Fox in Australia). Plus BeIN Sports has heaps of other top football as well as rugby (Six Nations etc.)
I terminated Sky TV recently because of your lack of soccer coverage and won't subscribe again until it improves."

[I used the word "soccer" so they don't get confused]

This website is great for free on demand games and highlights shows from all the major European leagues.

Matches are posted there just hours after they are played.

This morning's EPL, la Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga games are there already.

Has short ads every seven minutes - but they are only 15 seconds long which doesn't bug me too much.

Video quality is very good.

Has EPL, la Liga, Serie A, Eredivisie etc. highlights shows too.

And the major cup and Euro competitions.

Can choose from options at top of video window such as "First Half", "Second Half", "Highlights" etc.

http://www.fullmatchesandshows.com/

http://www.scmp.com/sport/article/1855196/six-game...

"He has persistently criticised the Russian football authorities over issues such as fan racism and poor-quality pitches.

Villas-Boas has hinted at a possible exit from Zenit, saying last week that he wanted to leave the club at the end of last season but the management would not allow him to go."

PRE-SEASON CLUB FRIENDLIES JULY 2017:

See here for NZ viewing schedule for all pre-season friendlies on beIN Sport 2:

https://connect.beinsports.com/nz/tv-guide/

All the International Champions Cup games are live on beIN 2 in NZ:

Held in three countries: USA, China, Singapore.

USA tournament: Man Utd joined by Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juve, Man City, PSG, Roma and Spurs.

First USA tournament game 2 pm Thursday NZT Roma vs PSG

Man Utd vs. Man City is the next day.

USA Tournament website for schedule:

http://www.internationalchampionscup.com/territori...

China tournament website:

http://www.internationalchampionscup.com/territori...

China line-up: Arsenal, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Dortmund, Bayern, Lyon

First game 11.10 pm Tuesday NZT AC Milan vs. Dortmund

Singapore line-up (end of July):

http://www.internationalchampionscup.com/territori...

Chelsea, Bayern, Inter Milan

Cool !

Have been missing my football fix.

Always fun to see the new signings debut & youngsters and squad players you don't normally see get a run in the pre-season games.

Plus all the transfer speculation from the commentators.

Just looking at the schedule for the new Sky Sport 7 football channel which commenced broadcasting today, they seem to have taken over everything that was on the one BeIn Sport channel that was left on Sky.

MLS, Championship & EFL, Bundesliga, la Liga, Copa Libertadores etc.

https://www.sky.co.nz/tvguide

So it seems BeIn no longer has a seperate channel carried on Sky.

Better value for football followers now that they don't have to pay extra for the BeIn Sport content but get it as part of their Sky Sport package.

Most people would have been subscribing to BeIn Sport on Sky for the EPL coverage.

Now they've lost the rights, I suspect too many people stopped subscribing, so Sky have taken the BeIn coverage under their umbrella.

A very positive move by Sky in my book.