by: Ross YoungPosted on:

Can You Watch Soccer Online For Free?

Table of Contents

If you’re a fan of the beautiful game, you might be wondering – can you watch soccer online for free? 

Well, it’s a good question, and it’s something that lots of soccer fans consider when trying to find live streams to watch their favorite teams. 

So, in this article, we explain everything you need to know about watching soccer for free online and how to find broadcasts covering your favorite teams. 

So, can you watch soccer online for free?

The short answer to this question is no – you cannot watch live soccer online for free, at least not legally. This is because broadcasters and streaming services pay a significant amount of money for the rights to show live soccer, meaning you’re required to sign up for a paid subscription if you wish to watch live soccer regularly. 

There are some exceptions to this, however, that we will explain in detail in this article, so read on to find out what you need to know about watching soccer online for free. 

Broadcasting rights and live soccer explained

Given the incredible popularity of professional soccer all around the world, broadcasters and streaming services pay huge amounts of money to show live broadcasts of the most popular games featuring the biggest teams in the game. The huge amount of TV money in the game is the main reason why soccer players are paid so much money! 

In order to broadcast live soccer legally, companies typically go through a bidding process, and the winning broadcaster seals a contract, enabling them to show a specific number of games every year to their customers. This happens in most countries and is why soccer in the vast majority of nations is on pay-per-view channels that feature on cable TV. 

However, in the age of streaming, soccer broadcasting has changed considerably, with the likes of Apple TV and Amazon Prime getting in on the action as far as broadcasting is concerned. To give you an idea of the cost associated with televising live soccer, here are some of the biggest soccer streaming deals in recent times: 

  • In June 2022, Apple announced a deal worth $2.5 billion for the exclusive rights of MLS in a ten-year deal. In other words, in order to watch MLS soccer in the US, you will need to subscribe to Apple TV from the start of the 2023 season.
  • In the same year, Amazon Prime struck a deal worth $1.8 billion to broadcast the UEFA Champions League in the UK, sharing broadcasting privileges with BT Sport between 2023 and 2027. 
  • Having held the rights to stream EPL soccer in the United States since 2013, Peacock recently renewed its rights to continue showing the EPL in a deal that’s worth $2.7 billion until 2028.

These combined deals are worth in excess of $6 billion, highlighting the astronomical costs associated with acquiring the rights to legally stream the biggest soccer competitions in the world. 

Now, bear in mind that these are just three examples of soccer streaming rights deals and that broadcasters and streaming platforms strike deals with leagues from different parts of the world to live stream matches. In other words, it’s difficult to quantify the cost of soccer streaming! 

The reason that we’ve highlighted this is to explain why it’s not possible to legally stream soccer for free online. Given the incredible amount of money that broadcasters and streaming services pay for soccer rights, they need to charge customers a subscription to tune into the action to recoup their outlay and make a profit. It’s as simple as that. 

So, in the vast majority of circumstances, you cannot legally live stream soccer for free online due to rights restrictions, even though there are some exceptions, as explained below. 

Are there any ways to watch soccer online for free legally?

YouTube is perhaps the best option when it comes to legally streaming soccer for free, although your options for live content are limited. However, YouTube is the perfect place to watch soccer highlights for free, and you will find that there are official highlight reels from some of the biggest leagues around the world on YT. 

So, while you can’t necessarily watch live games on the platform, you can subscribe to various channels and tune into endless hours of highlights, which is a good option if you don’t have the funds available to pay for a soccer subscription. 

Another option to consider is when soccer matches are broadcast on free-to-view television, you can also access the action via an online stream. 

A good example of this is that ITV and BBC in the UK are free TV channels to any British person who pays for a TV license. Therefore, when soccer matches are shown live on these channels, you can stream them for free via their respective online streaming platforms without paying a subscription. 

This is how millions of people in the United Kingdom watched the 2022 FIFA World Cup, for instance. Although most live soccer today is behind a paywall, there are some instances where you will find free-to-air soccer shown on terrestrial TV, so it’s worth taking advantage of when the opportunity arises!

How to legally stream live soccer in the United States?

So, the bottom line is that if you want to legally stream live soccer in the United States, you will need to pay for a subscription. Every streaming platform that shows soccer has different packages available to fans, and you can select an option that is in line with your budget and that shows the soccer that you’re interested in watching. 

For instance, a year’s subscription to Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass is $99, and it’s the only way to watch all of the action live from North America’s most popular soccer league. We recently put together this handy guide explaining how to stream soccer without cable, which is a great place to start if you’re looking to watch live soccer online legally.

The verdict: Can you watch soccer online for free?

Ultimately, you cannot watch live soccer online for free as a result of the expensive rights deals that broadcasters and streaming platforms pay for exclusivity. 

While you can catch some highlights for free on YouTube, you will need to sign up for a paid subscription to a streaming service like Apple TV or Peacock if you wish to legally watch live soccer online. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *