BBC ready to get 2018-19 football season started

• Match Of The Day is the UK’s most watched regular football show which saw over 30m tune in last season - 60 percent of those who watch the Premier League only see it on the BBC
• Streaming of Haverhill Rovers v Haverhill Borough kicks off BBC’s FA Cup coverage on 11 August through to the final in May
• Women’s FIFA World Cup 2019 qualifier between Wales and England live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on 31 August
• Women’s FIFA World Cup live across the BBC in 2019
• FA Women’s Super League game streamed live every weekend on the BBC
• Record breaking online year for BBC football programmes in 2017/18 with 43.8m programme requests
• More Premier League commentaries than anyone else on 5 live covering 144 games

TV and iPlayer

The UK’s most popular football show returns to BBC One on Saturday nights - more than 30m tuned in last season – as Match Of The Day (MOTD) host Gary Lineker and a team of highly experienced pundits deliver expert insight and analysis on all of the day’s Premier League action.

From the Premier League to women’s football and younger audiences, seven football shows are available to view regularly on BBC TV and BBC iPlayer; MOTD (Saturdays on BBC One and repeated on Sundays, 9am on BBC One), MOTD2 presented by Mark Chapman (Sundays, 10.30pm on BBC One), Football Focus with Dan Walker (Saturdays, 12pm on BBC One), Final Score, now in its 70th year, hosted by Jason Mohammed (Saturdays, 4.30pm on BBC One and available from 2.30pm on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and Red Button), The Premier League Show presented by Gabby Logan (Thursdays on BBC Two starting 13 September), Women’s Football Show with Eilidh Barbour (Sundays on BBC One starting 9 September) and for younger football fans there is MOTD Kickabout on CBBC (Saturdays, 7.45am, starting 11 August).

The BBC will be showing every game from the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup (7 June – 7 July) and this August marks the start of a massive year for the women’s game on the BBC as the crucial World Cup qualifier between Wales and England to determine which of the home nations gains automatic qualification will be shown exclusively live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on Friday 31 August from 7.30pm.

Following on from the international action will be the start of the FA Women’s Super League on 8 September, where a game will be streamed live every weekend before the Women’s Football Show that night. One of the biggest events on the sporting calendar, the women’s FA Cup final will also be live on the BBC on Saturday, 4 May along with semi-final highlights the month before.

From the very first kick to the last, the BBC will bring you all of the drama from the FA Cup in 2018-19 starting on 11 August with Haverhill Rovers v Haverhill Borough (12.30pm). The BBC Sport website, app and BBC iPlayer will live-stream six qualifying matches ahead of the First Round proper which begins on Saturday, 10 November. Audiences can enjoy 16 live free-to-air FA Cup matches on BBC TV and highlights of every round's coverage of the oldest and most prestigious domestic cup competition in world football builds towards the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, 18 May. Last season, the BBC’s live coverage of the FA Cup reached 27.5m and included classic games like the third round Merseyside derby, League One’s Wigan defeating Premier League leaders Manchester City and Chelsea lifting the cup.

A wealth of knowledge and experience returns to the screen for the new season, as the BBC welcomes back respected experts Alan Shearer, Ian Wright, Jermaine Jenas, Martin Keown, Alex Scott, Danny Murphy, Ruud Gullit, Dion Dublin, Phil Neville, Paul Ince, Matthew Upson, Kevin Kilbane, Mark Lawrenson and Garth Crooks. Guiding us through the on-field action will be the accomplished line-up of commentators for 2018-19 which includes Guy Mowbray, Steve Wilson, Vicki Sparks, Jonathan Pearce, Simon Brotherton, Robyn Cowen and Steve Bower.

Radio

BBC Radio 5 Live brings listeners live commentary of 144 live Premier League matches this season - more than any other UK broadcaster. The season gets underway on Friday, August 10 with exclusive national radio commentary of Manchester United v Leicester City.

Ian Wright, Jermaine Jenas, Paul Ince, Chris Waddle, Dion Dublin, Chris Sutton and Pat Nevin lead 5 Live’s expert team of pundits, while Kelly Cates takes on a new role presenting 5 Live Sport on Tuesday evenings, introducing coverage of some of the biggest football games including UEFA Champions League matches.

BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Nick Bright hosts The Squad With Nick Bright between midday and 1pm on Sundays, analysing the weekend’s games through the eyes of young fans and social media influencers. And long-running football phone-in show 606 gets a new sound on Sundays, with popular commentary duo Chris Sutton and Alistair Bruce-Ball taking on presenting duties.

Mark Chapman presents 5 Live Sport on Mondays, Wednesday and Saturdays, with Ian Wright joining him on The Monday Night Club throughout the season. Thursday evenings on 5 Live Sport will feature a new European football show, and Darren Fletcher and Jermaine Jenas are back with The Friday Football Social each week.

The Football Daily podcast is back and follows on from the huge success of the World Cup Daily, which brought record download numbers to the BBC. There will a be a brand new Monday morning episode with the best Premier League analysis and a revamped Thursday offering based around the best stories from European football.

There will also be coverage of the Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup, League Cup, EFL, Scottish Premiership and international ties, not to mention live coverage of the FA Women’s Super League and England Women. The Women’s FIFA World Cup 2019 qualifier between Wales and England at Rodney Parade will be broadcast live on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra on Friday, 31 August.

All radio coverage is also available on the BBC iPlayer Radio app.

Digital

Football never stops, and the BBC Sport website, app and Red Button will continue to offer fans the most comprehensive service across digital platforms and social media.

Following the highly successful 2018 FIFA World Cup, which attracted record audiences of over 49m unique browsers to the BBC Sport’s online service, the 2018-19 season promises to be just as exciting.

Before it all kicks off, fans can follow every twist and turn of the transfer market before the domestic window closes earlier than normal at 5pm on 9 August. Every transfer will be tracked across the Premier League, EFL, Scottish Premiership and across the main European leagues.

There will be live coverage of all the big games, starting with live text and radio commentary from the season’s opening match between Manchester United and Leicester City on 10 August.

Fans can read reports on every match across the Premier League, EFL and Scottish Premiership and Scottish League throughout the season along with previews, the latest breaking news from your club, and reaction from managers and players.

There’ll be post-match video interviews from all Premier League and Scottish Premiership games featuring managers and players.

The BBC’s coverage of the FA Cup starts on 11 August with the Extra Preliminary Round and will continue all the way to the final at Wembley next May.

Across the BBC Sport website and app there will also be extensive live text commentary for every UEFA Champions League, Europa League and League Cup tie.

Following England’s success in Russia, the UEFA Nations League starts with exciting fixtures against Spain and Croatia in the autumn. All home nations international matches involving England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be covered live on the website.

BBC Sport is also following the progress of the women’s game with live coverage of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers featuring England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as the race to reach the finals in France next summer reaches a conclusion. There will also be regular news and highlights from the FA Women’s Super League, along with columns from former England stars Alex Scott and Rachel Brown-Finnis.

Fans can get involved with the Player Rater for selected matches while pundit Mark Lawrenson will again predict the scores of every Premier League match. Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week returns every Sunday evening, when audiences can contest his selection and pick their own top team.

Match Of The Day pundits will provide additional opinion and analysis on all the big talking points while the BBC Sport’s European football experts, including new signing Guillem Balague, will interview some of football’s biggest names and write regular columns. Football fans love a quiz so look out for plenty of those along with other interactive elements such as Team Selector challenges along with the daily Gossip Column.

There is a wealth of content and ways to engage with programmes via BBC Sport’s social media accounts which reach more than 30m followers.

BBC Sport New Voices

Launching today (Thursday, August 9), BBC Sport want to hear from those who have a passion for sport and love talking about it.

The search has begun to find a new generation of commentators via the BBC Sport New Voices scheme to add two new people to the BBC’s commentary pool.

This scheme has a proven record of producing some very talented commentators, including Vicki Sparks, who became the first woman to commentate on a televised World Cup game this summer, and Chris Latchem who has had recent golf and boxing stints behind the microphone.

Vicki Sparks on the BBC Sport New Voices scheme: “I applied for the BBC's New Voices scheme having only commentated on one match in my life for local radio.

“Being part of a scheme like this is great because it allows you to hone your skills in a supportive environment, whilst receiving the benefit of top-class training and feedback.

“Four years on and this summer I took another massive stride in my career as I became the first woman to commentate on a televised World Cup match which was Portugal v Morocco.

“If you love talking about sport, and wish you could do it as a career; if you listen to the radio or TV and find yourself completely swept up in dramatic commentary moments; if you've ever turned the sound off and pretended that you're the one describing the action, then this scheme is probably made for you.”

Full details of how to apply for the BBC Sport New Voices scheme can be found here

GM

Related BBC Links

• BBC Sport New Voices scheme