ESPN continues to believe in our game, this time doing a joint three year deal with British based Channel 5 to acquire the television rights to the UEFA Europa League from Setanta.

Via Guardian

The Disney-owned sports broadcaster, which also acquired Setanta’s live English Premiership matches when the company’s English operations went into administration in June, will share rights to the Europa League competition with Channel Five.

ESPN has done a three-year deal, with the first matches due to be broadcast from later this month. The final is in May next year.

Sides involved include current Uefa Cup holders Shakhtar Donetsk, Roma, Lazio, Valencia, Ajax, PSV, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, while those of British interest will include Celtic, Everton and Fulham.

As part of the deal, ESPN will serve as host broadcaster for any live home matches featuring British clubs that it is transmitting.

Jeroen Oerlemans, the ESPN vice president of TV channels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: “This deal shows that we continue to build a fantastic offering of local and international sport for fans around the UK.”

A Uefa spokesman added: “We are delighted to have signed this deal with ESPN in respect of the Uefa Europa League rights in the United Kingdom. ESPN’s new sports channel complements the launch of this exciting competition and will provide UK football fans with additional top quality live football.”

In addition to the Europa League, ESPN’s live football content this season includes 46 games from the Barclays Premier League, 30 from the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League and up to 80 from the Italian Serie A. The channel also airs live football from the German Bundesliga, Dutch Eredivisie, Portuguese Liga, Russian Premier League and American MLS.