Why is the England game on Channel 4? Many have asked as neither the BBC or ITV will be showing Thursday’s EURO 2024 qualifier against Italy.
Channel 4 do not tend to show the Three Lions in action, so thousands of football fans are baffled to hear that they will be broadcasting the clash between Gareth Southgate and Roberto Mancini in Naples.
So, why is the England game on Channel 4? Let’s take a look…
Why is the England game on Channel 4?
Well – to put it simply – Channel 4 won the rights to show live England fixtures up until 2024 back in April, as announced on their official website.
20 England games – England’s mens team, to be precise – will be broadcast in that timeframe, with Channel 4 already showing the UEFA Nations League clashes against Hungary, Italy and Germany throughout 2022.
Channel 4 did not manage to wrestle the World Cup rights away from the BBC and ITV for December’s tournament in Qatar.
Nevertheless, they have beaten the two broadcasting giants – as well as Sky – to the rights to show England’s EURO 2020 qualifiers, as well as friendly games until 2024.
England’s record on Channel 4
As aforesaid, England have already been televised by Channel 4 on six occasions back in 2022.
It was not the greatest of starts for Channel 4 after winning the rights, as the Three Lions failed to win a single UEFA Nations League fixture.
England experienced a 1-0 defeat to Hungary in their first outing on Channel 4, before a 1-1 draw against Germany and a 0-0 stalemate with Italy followed.
Things then got even worse for Southgate as England suffered a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Hungary, before losing 1-0 to Italy and drawing 3-3 against Germany.
As things stand, Channel 4 have the worst win rate of any broadcaster to show an England game at 0%.
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