ESPN EXPANDS RIGHTS TO UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE IN UK

ESPN has extended and expanded its rights for coverage of the UEFA Europa League after securing live, multi-platform rights for up to 176 matches from the tournament. The deal begins in August 2012 and runs for 3 years, reinforcing the sports media company’s growing multi-screen line-up of UK, European and international football.

Following on from its coverage of the tournament in the UK for the past two seasons (as well as the current season), ESPN will remain the exclusive UK pay television partner of the competition, bringing viewers at least two live televised matches during each match week. Further coverage details will be announced at a later date.

ESPN’s UEFA Europa League coverage will be led by Ray Stubbs while Jon Champion and Derek Rae will bring fans all the action from the commentary box.
As part of the deal, ESPN will serve as host broadcaster for any live home matches featuring British clubs that it selects for broadcast.

The UEFA Europa League features some of the biggest clubs from across Europe as they compete to reach the Final in May each year.
This season, leading UK and Irish sides Celtic, Birmingham, Tottenham Hotspur, Stoke City, Fulham, and Shamrock Rovers are competing against the likes of PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Besiktas, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. The competition proper begins with 48 clubs, ten of whom were eliminated in the playoff round of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.

The competition augments ESPN’s multiplatform coverage of football offering.
This season, ESPN’s live television coverage includes the Barclays Premier League, the FA Cup, the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, England U-21 matches, Euro 2012 qualifiers, the German Cup, Dutch Eredivisie, Russian Premier Liga and international friendly matches.
ESPN also features the nightly football studio programme Press Pass (Mon- Fri 11:30 p.m. BST), which engages viewers with smart, opinionated discussion about UK, European and global football with a team of top pundits including Frank LeBoeuf, Shaka Hislop, Steve Nichol, Craig Burley and more.

On mobile, ESPN Goals delivers in-match, post-match and customised highlights of all 380 Barclays Premier League matches, including every goal throughout the season within minutes of the action, for free.
Online, ESPN provides complete news and analysis of UK and global football on ESPN.co.uk/football and ESPNsoccernet.com.