For football fans the past three months have been a strange, quiet time. What should have been another dramatic climax to an action-packed and VAR-influenced season was cut down in its prime back in early March.
While the English Premier League doesn’t return until June 17, there’s good news if you can’t wait for Premier League football to restart.
You can treat your sporting soul to live games from around the world. Some of the top leagues are back playing right now, and you can even watch some of them live from the comfort of your home.
Germany – Bundesliga
Germany’s top-flight league, The Bundesliga, is one of the best leagues in the world, with giants such as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund on the fixture list and a host of world-class players.
The German Bundesliga restarted on May 16, 2020 and its bumper fixture list has games running through to the new season end date of June 27, 2020.
What’s more, it’s possible to watch live Bundesliga games. In the UK, BT has the rights to German football, allowing you to watch every game that’s left of this season live on TV if you subscribe to the BT Sport channels.
You don’t need a TV to watch BT Sport – if you’re a subscriber you can also use the BT Sport app to watch the action, and it can be cast to a compatible display.
South Korea – K-League 1
South Korea’s top-tier of football, K-League 1, was the first to kick-off post-pandemic, with its initial return match between Jeonbuk Motors and Suwon Bluewings being played on May 8, 2020 – and it was live streamed on Twitter and YouTube for the world to see.
The game gave us our first glimpse of top-flight football behind closed doors, with empty stands and the handful of coaches, officials and TV crews on the sidelines all wearing face masks.
Being able to catch more live K-League 1 games outside of Korea isn’t quite so easy, but YouTube Channel Copa90 is handpicking a game each week to stream live.
Spain – La Liga
Spain’s La Liga – featuring greats such as Barcelona and Real Madrid – is set to kick off a few days ahead of the English Premier League, which means you’ll be able to warm yourself up with some Spanish football.
The competition has been given the green light by the Spanish government to resume from June 8, and the good news for Sky subscribers in the UK is it looks like you’ll be able to watch the rest of the La Liga season for free.
According to reports, Sky TV customers will be able to to activate the Premier Sports channel for free throughout June. However, there is a catch. You’ll want to remember to cancel the channel once the month is up, as from July, you’ll be charged a monthly fee of £5.99 to keep the channel as part of your package.
England – Premier League
This is the league you’re likely waiting for, and the good news is the wait is almost over. The English Premier League will restart on June 17, 2020 with two games taking place; Manchester City vs Arsenal and Aston Villa vs Sheffield United.
Of the 92 remaining Premier League fixtures for the 2019/2020 season, Sky has confirmed that it will show 64 of the games live, with 25 of those being made available on Sky Pick – a free-to-air channel available on Freeview. That means you won’t need a Sky Sports subscription to watch those 25 games – but you will need one if you want to catch all 64 live games it will be showing.
A further 20 games will be shown live by BT, but there’s no word on whether any will be made free-to-air. That means you’ll likely need a BT Sport subscription to watch these 20 games.
Another four games will be shown live on Amazon Prime Video, while the BBC has snapped up the final four fixtures, which will be available free-to-air, without any subscription required.