ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and ESPN+ will team to air all 51 matches of Euro 2020, the delayed UEFA European Football Championship tournament that begins Friday, June 11 with the opening match between Turkey and Italy in Rome and runs through the final July 11 at Wembley Stadium in London.
In all, the Disney networks said Monday that as U.S. English-language rightsholders they will televise more than 140 live hours of the tournament, considered by many to be the premier national-team soccer tournament in the world. Univision’s TUDN and its newly launched streaming service PrendeTV will combine for Spanish-language U.S. coverage.
ESPN will televise 40 matches this summer, ESPN2 six, and ABC five including two Round of 16 matchups and a quarterfinal. The final, on Sunday, July 11, will air with coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+. The latter streaming service will livestream all matches with three different feeds: an aerial cam (tactical cam) and two feeds that feature a combo of player and manager Iso-Cams, along with audio from ESPN’s match commentators.
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The games will stream live on the ESPN and ABC apps, while ABC’s matches will be simulcast on ESPN3. It will mark the first time since 2008 that the Euro championships will air on U.S. network TV.
ESPN2 will kick off coverage with a 30-minute preview show Wednesday, June 9 at 6:30 p.m. ET. Shows Euro Today (airing between matches throughout the tournament) and Euro Tonight (airing air on match days after the last match on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2) are also planned. ESPN FC led by hosts Dan Thomas and Kay Murray will air daily editions of the soccer news, highlights and opinion program during the tournament.
This year’s tournament, postponed a year because of the pandemic, will take place across 11 host cities: Amsterdam, Baku (Azerbaijan), Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Glasgow, London, Munich, Rome, Seville (Spain) and St. Petersburg. It features seven national teams in the Top 10 of the current FIFA rankings: No. 1 Belgium, No. 2 France, No. 4 England, No. 5 Portugal (Cristiano Ronaldo’s team is the defending champion from 2016), No. 6 Spain, No. 7 Italy and No. 10 Denmark. Longtime powers Germany, Croatia and the Netherlands are also in the hunt.
Group F is easily the “Group of Death” this year, with defending Euro champ Portugal pitted against the last two World Cup winners in France (2018) and Germany (2014); the latter two play June 15. The France-Portugal matchup June 23 is a rematch of the Euro 2016 final.
Below are the groups, followed by the U.S. TV schedule:
Groups
Group A
(Cities: Rome, Baku)
Turkey, Italy, Wales, Switzerland
Group B
(Cities: Copenhagen/St Petersburg)
Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Russia
Group C
(Cities: Amsterdam/Bucharest)
Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria, Macedonia
Group D
(Cities: London/Glasgow)
England, Croatia, Scotland, Czech Republic
Group E
(Cities: Seville/St Petersburg)
Spain, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia
Group F
(Cities: Munich/Budapest)
Hungary, Portugal, France, Germany
TV Schedule
(all times ET; coverage starts about 30 minutes before kickoff;
all games also stream on ESPN+; all but six games stream on Prende TV)
Friday, June 11
Group A – Turkey vs. Italy, 2:30 p.m. ET (ESPN, Univision, TUDN)
Saturday, June 12
Group A – Wales vs. Switzerland, 8:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group B – Denmark vs. Finland, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group B – Belgium vs. Russia, 2:30 p.m. (ABC)
Sunday, June 13
Group D – England vs. Croatia, 8:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group C – Austria vs. North Macedonia, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group C – Netherlands vs. Ukraine, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Monday, June 14
Group D – Scotland vs. Czech Republic, 8:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group E – Poland vs. Slovakia, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group E – Spain vs. Sweden, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Tuesday, June 15
Group F – Hungary vs. Portugal, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group F – France vs. Germany, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN, Univision, TUDN)
Wednesday, June 16
Group B – Finland vs. Russia, 8:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group A – Turkey vs. Wales, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group A – Italy vs. Switzerland, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Thursday, June 17
Group C – Ukraine vs. North Macedonia, 8:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group B – Denmark vs. Belgium, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group C – Netherlands vs. Austria, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Friday, June 18
Group E – Sweden vs. Slovakia, 8:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group D – Croatia vs. Czech Republic, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group D – England vs. Scotland, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Saturday, June 19
Group F – Hungary vs. France, 8:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group F – Portugal vs. Germany, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN, Univision, TUDN)
Group E – Spain vs. Poland, 2:30 a.m. (ABC)
Sunday, June 20
Group A – Switzerland vs. Turkey, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group A – Italy vs. Wales, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2)
Monday, June 21
Group C – North Macedonia vs. Netherlands, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group C – Ukraine vs. Austria, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2)
Group B – Russia vs. Denmark, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Group B – Finland vs. Belgium, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Tuesday, June 22
Group D – Croatia vs. Scotland, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Group D – Czech Republic vs. England, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Wednesday, June 23
Group E – Slovakia vs. Spain, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Group E – Sweden vs. Poland, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2)
Group F – Portugal vs. France, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN, Univision, TUDN)
Group F – Germany vs. Hungary, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday, June 26
Round of 16 (Amsterdam) – 2A vs. 2B, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Round of 16 (London) – 1A vs. 2C, 2:30 p.m., London (ABC)
Sunday, June 27
Round of 16 (Budapest) – 1C vs. 3DEF, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Round of 16 (Saville) – 1B vs. 3ADEF, 2:30 p.m. (ABC, Univision, TUDN)
Monday, June 28
Round of 16 (Copenhagen) – 2D vs. 2E, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Round of 16 (Bucharest) – 1F vs. 3ABC, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Tuesday, June 29
Round of 16 (London) – 1D vs. 2F, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Round of 16 (Glasgow) – 1E vs. 3ABCD, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN, Univision, TUDN)
Friday, July 2
Quarterfinal I (St. Petersburg) – 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Quarterfinal II (Munich) – 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Saturday, July 3
Quarterfinal III (Baku) – 11:30 a.m. (ESPN, Univision, TUDN)
Quarterfinal IV (Rome) – 2:30 p.m. (ABC, Univision, TUDN)
Tuesday, July 6
Semifinal I (London) – 2:30 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN+, Univision, TUDN)
Wednesday, July 7
Semifinal II (London) – 2:30 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN+, Univision, TUDN)
Sunday, July 11
Final (London) – 2:30 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN+, Univision, TUDN)