BBC unveils 2017/18 football coverage - including the return of MOTD

• The UK’s most watched football show, Match Of The Day, returns Saturday 12 August
• Seven weekly football shows on BBC TV throughout the season reaching more than 36m people – and 60 percent of all Premier League viewers only watched on BBC
• Every show available on BBC iPlayer - more than 50m iPlayer requests last season
• BBC celebrates Premier League 25th birthday with re-run of first match and first Premier League era Match of the Day from 1992
• A wealth of extra digital content to mark the milestone, including the ultimate BBC Premier League Team Selector
• Radio 5 live brings 144 live Premier League match commentaries - more than any other broadcaster

This season sees the Premier League celebrating its 25th birthday and BBC Sport will be celebrating with a raft of special content. On Tuesday 15 August - exactly 25 years to the day since the first Premier League game - football fans can tune into the very first Match Of The Day of the Premier League era, hosted by Des Lynam alongside Gary Lineker and Alan Hansen, on BBC Red Button and the BBC Sport website and app (10pm).

TV

Gary Lineker returns to host the most-watched football show in the UK on Saturday night which saw more than 25m people tuning in last season, for the expert insight and analysis the show has become so famous for.

MOTD is one of seven regular football programmes on BBC TV. Other shows returning this weekend are MOTD2 (Sundays, 10.30pm on BBC One) and MOTD2 Extra (Sundays, 12.15pm on BBC Two) presented by Mark Chapman, Football Focus (Saturdays, midday on BBC One) with Dan Walker, Final Score (Saturdays, 4.30pm on BBC One) with Jason Mohammed, The Premier League Show (beginning on Wednesday 16 August, then every Thursday, 10pm on BBC Two) with Gabby Logan joined by Lineker and, for young viewers, MOTD Kickabout (Fridays, 7.35am on CBBC). All football programming will feature the new-look BBC Sport brand identity, with the addition of a new touchscreen appearing in many shows.

The BBC also welcomes back its highly experienced and knowledgeable punditry team which includes the Premier League’s record goal-scorer Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, Danny Murphy, Jermaine Jenas, Phil Neville, Ruud Gullit, and Martin Keown. They’ll be joined by the likes of Kevin Kilbane, Trevor Sinclair, Mark Lawrenson, John Hartson, Dion Dublin, Garth Crooks and Danny Mills, with the full roster of pundits having scored 711 Premier League goals and lifted 64 major trophies between them. The talented line-up of commentators for the season again includes Guy Mowbray, Steve Wilson, Jonathan Pearce, Simon Brotherton, Steve Bower and John Motson, in his 50th year of commentary for the BBC.

BBC coverage of the new FA Cup season launched last weekend when, in a broadcasting first, a preliminary match was broadcast live on the BBC Sport website and app. One match from each of the qualifying rounds will be broadcast shown live each fortnight, in the lead-up to the first round proper on Saturday 4 November. Across the season there’ll be up to 16 live FA Cup matches on BBC TV and highlights of every round ending in May when the BBC will again bring wall-to-wall coverage of the FA Cup final throughout the day - a match watched by more than 10m viewers last year.

The Women’s Football Show returns from 23/24 September, bringing the best of the action from the Women’s Super League. As the England Women’s team begin their quest to become world champions, home qualifying matches of the 2019 Women's World Cup will be televised from 19 September, with matches against Russia, Bosnia, Kazakhstan and Wales. The BBC will also show the Women’s FA Cup final live on 5 May 2018.

Radio

Radio 5 live remains the BBC’s home of live football, with more live Premier League commentaries than any other British broadcaster. The station will bring 144 live Premier League games to fans this season starting with Arsenal v Leicester on Friday 11 August. Other live football action from 5 live this season includes Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League, Home Nations’ internationals and Scottish Premiership and Championship. 5 live sports extra will provide live commentary on 16 Women’s Super League matches, plus coverage of the Women’s FA Cup.

Mark Chapman will host 5 live Sport every Saturday, with commentary and goal action from across the English and Scottish leagues, followed by Sports Report at 5pm. In addition to live commentary, the network continues to bring all the football action and news throughout the week on 5 live Sport with Chapman, Mark Pougatch, Jonathan Overend and Kelly Cates. Chapman will again present The Monday Night Club, with Arsenal legend Ian Wright joining the show as co-host, while Jermaine Jenas and Darren Fletcher looking ahead to the weekend’s action in the Friday Football Social.

606 returns on weekends with Robbie Savage and Jason Mohammed hosting on Saturdays and Ian Wright and Kelly Cates on Sundays. The 5 live team is led by football correspondent John Murray, senior football reporter Ian Dennis and commentator Alan Green, with pundits including Robbie Savage, Ian Wright, Chris Waddle, Jermaine Jenas, Pat Nevin and Danny Mills.

Digital

An extensive array of additional content will feature across the BBC Sport website, app and Red Button to mark the Premier League’s 25th birthday. The match featuring the first Premier League goal, Sheffield United v Manchester United, will be replayed in its entirety with live text commentary and goal-flashes from the 3pm kick-offs from 1992. Audiences can watch the whole of the match from Bramhall Lane and recall the action from the other games minute-by-minute from 2pm on Tuesday 15 August on the BBC Sport website, app and Red Button.

Premier League legend, Alan Shearer, has helped create a shortlist for the ultimate BBC Premier League Team Selector. Audiences can choose their favourite goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and forwards, with the best players debated on The Premier League Show on August 16 and 24. The final team line-up will then be revealed on 27 August in MOTD2.

Other extra digital features celebrating this landmark include votes on the greatest ever Premier League goal, a quiz to find out which Premier League player you are most like and online clips to document five eras of Premier League history, taking a look-back at key players and tactics, using Merlin sticker-style graphics.

Throughout the season the BBC Sport website will offer fans an extensive service including live commentary on key matches and every goal along with highlights from the FA Cup, plus all the latest news and interviews. Across the entire football portfolio the BBC Sport website and App will offer more live coverage than ever before, with a bespoke live text commentary service for every Premier League and Home Nation international match, plus the biggest Champions League, FA Cup, Scottish Premiership, Championship and women’s football matches.

Fans can sign up to the BBC Football Predictor game and join pundit Mark Lawrenson in trying to predict the scores of every Premier League match. Garth Crooks’ Team Of The Week returns every Monday morning, when audiences can contest his selection and pick their own top team. There is a wealth of content and ways to engage with programmes via BBC Sport’s social media accounts - now including Instagram - which reach more than 27 million people.

BBC Local Radio stations in England continue to provide in-depth coverage of all their local teams. Their loyal and informed sports teams deliver commentary on every game of around 70 league teams to their listeners, ranging from Premier League giants like Manchester City and Spurs to National League sides like AFC Telford and Eastleigh. The teams cover around 1,500 matches during the season, along with news, phone-ins and previews shows.

BBC Sports News will bring all the results, stories and interviews of the season across TV, radio and online. Audiences on the BBC World Service will continue to enjoy the most comprehensive coverage of the Premier League available worldwide, along with the Champions League and FA Cup - and Mani Djazmi and Alan Green present World Football, bringing stories from around the world to our global audiences.

As the Premier League season draws to a close, all eyes will turn to Russia who are set to host the much anticipated 2018 FIFA World Cup. The BBC will again be at the heart of the action bringing unprecedented access to all rounds of the tournament across TV, radio and digital platforms, starting with the World Cup draw on 1 December live on the BBC.

Notes to Editors

• BBC Sport’s TV coverage of the Premier League last season reached 37 million people, with 60% of Premier League fans only watching on the BBC.
• Audience iPlayer consumption saw a drastic increase on the previous year, with more than 50 million requests for Premier League and FA Cup programmes across the season.
• Premier League highlights on the BBC are part of an impressive football rights portfolio that includes live FA Cup coverage until 2021, the FIFA World Cup through to 2022, and regular women’s football.

KS