Watch Champions League and Europa League Online
The UEFA Champions League and Europa League return this week with another bout of interesting fixtures. We are taking a look at how we can watch the games online. Normally the majority of articles on streaming sports involves watching the match using dubious streams in the web browser or peer to peer streaming applications. We are going to take a look at the options for watching the European fixtures through the UEFA website.
The UEFA website seems to be pushing the boundaries this season and taking note of the huge demand for watching streams online. When visiting the UEFA website during match days there is a prominent link to Live Match Streaming. The UEFA approach is to detect what country you are from and search the TV listings for local broadcasters in your country and display the links for the evenings matches.
In the UK Champions League fixtures are split between Sky Sports and ITV. Europa League matches are shown on ITV (normally ITV3 and ITV4), Channel 5 and ESPN.
So if you are based in the UK you will be presented with streaming links to Sky Sports or ITV websites. Unfortunately the Sky Sports links are not free and this is likely to be similar for other channels across Europe. Whilst there are no matches on ITV this evening it is safe to assume the terrestrial ITV channel will be free to UK residents.
The Sky Sports link asks you to sign up for a Sky ID account and streaming uses their Sky Go package allowing streaming to your ipad and other devices. Access to Sky Go is free if you are an existing Sky subscriber and your online account and subscription is linked via the ID on your Sky Card. Unfortunately if you are a Virgin Media Sky Sports subscriber you cannot access the Sky Go service.
If you are not a Sky subscriber you can access the service on a pay as you basis. The monthly price for the package including Sky Sports is £35 per month or £44 per month with ESPN (Showing some Europa League matches). The fee is expensive and it may be more cost effective to go and get a Sky satellite installed with a subscription. The other option is to find a friend with a Sky Sports subscription and see if you can link your Sky ID to their TV card number (if they are not going to use the Sky Go service).
The monthly packages on the Sky Go service are expensive and it would also be good to see a pay per match option.
Whilst UEFA are not streaming the matches themselves through their site they are obviously paying attention to the interest in streaming football. They should be commended for setting up this service and other football organisations should take note.