CBS’s subscription streaming service, CBS All Access, will broadcast the UEFA Women’s Champions League end-of-season tournament, which begins Friday in Spain, told The Inquirer a source with knowledge of the deal.
As with the Men’s Champions League and Europa League, this season’s women’s Champions League ends with an unbiased tournament on the site. The matches will be played at two venues in the Spanish Basque Country, the San Mamés stadium in Bilbao and the Anoeta stadium in San Sebastian.
The tournament begins with the quarter-finals starting Friday. VfL Wolfsburg, a perennial German powerhouse, faces the oppressed Scot Glasgow City in San Sebastian, and Spanish powers Atletico Madrid and Barcelona face off in Bilbao. Both games take place at noon ET.
Saturday’s quarter-finals are star-studded. Arsenal of England faces Frenchman Saint-Germain in San Sebastian, and France’s Lyon, a four-time champion of protection, faces Bayern Munich at 2 p.m. Unlike the men’s tournament, Lyon is this time the favorite.
The semi-finals will take place next Tuesday and Wednesday 25 and 26 August in San Sebastian, or at 14 hours. The ultimate will take place on August 30 in Bilbao at 14 h.
While CBS All Access is the easiest way for top-go fans to watch matches, it may not be the only way for both to play in the final. The broadcast rights of the Women’s Champions League for all matches, with the ion of the final, are made through a single club and not through UEFA. Some groups will stream matches on their own platforms, such as the Wolfsburg YouTube page. Most of these systems will not be in English, but at least they will be available.
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The latter will be exclusively in All Access, as UEFA distributes the rights for this match.
Prior to CBS’s announcement, some enthusiasts saw that UEFA would broadcast the matches through its own live streaming platform, UEFA.tv. This was going to be the way out for American enthusiasts until the agreement was reached with CBS. (Those same enthusiasts spent last week more asking CBS to broadcast the games on All Access, so I hope they probably won’t complain too much now about the change.)
The matches will be the global broadcast of UEFA and there will be no study programming around the games. But existing exhibits at CBS’ UEFA studios may not stray from the subject, as the crowd saw in Wednesday afternoon’s pre-Match Champions League program. The studio’s presenter, Kate Abdo, had a lively discussion with analyst Alex Scott and Delran-born American star Carli Lloyd about the women’s tournament, especially the Lyon dynasty.
The deal is only for this season, and you may still have to wait for next season. UEFA has a plan to centralize the broadcast rights of the Women’s Champions League, but will not enter into force until 2021.
CBS All Access costs $6 a month or $60 a year, advertising more expensive plans. A loose event is underway for August that includes all UEFA tournaments this summer.
While @OL_english will electronically reserve their position in the top flight of the Champions League, @AlexScott and @CarliLloyd have joined @Kate_Abdo and @LaurensJulien to communicate over OLfeminin’s European dominance over the past decade. pic.twitter.com/QcTGeG43bk
Here’s the UEFA Women’s Champions League tournaments:
Friday 21 August: Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona, 12:00 h; Glasgow City – VfL Wolfsburg, 12:00 h (quarter-finals)
Saturday 22 August: Arsenal vs Paris Saint-Germain, 14:00 h; Lyon vs Bayern Munich, 14:00 h (quarter-finals)
Tuesday, August 25: Winner of Atlético-Barcelona vs. Winner of Glasgow-Wolfsburg, 14:00 h (semi-final)
Wednesday 26 August: Arsenal-PSG winner Lyon-Bayern, 14:00 h. (Semifinal)
Sunday, August 30: End
Players who should know:
Arsenal: GK Lydia Williams (Australia, ex-Reign FC); D Steph Catley (Australia, ex-Reign FC); Ms. Daniele van de Donk (Netherlands), Kim Little (Scotland, ex-Reign FC), Jordan Nobbs (England); Fs Caitlin Foord (Australia, former Portland Thorns), Beth Mead (England), Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands)
Atletico Madrid: GK Hedvig Lindahl (Sweden); Ds Kylie Strom (Endicott, New York), Aissatou Tounkara (France); Ms. Jade Moore (England, from Orlando Pride), Amanda Sampedro (Spain); Fs Toni Duggan (England), Charlyn Corral (Mexico)
Barcelona: Ds Ana-Maria Crnogor-evi (Switzerland, ex-Portland Thorns), Marta Torrejon (Spain); Ms. Vicky Losada (Spain), Alexia Putellas (Spain); Fs Caroline Graham Hansen (Norway), Jennifer Hermoso (Spain), Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria)
Bayern Munich: D Hanna Glas (Sweden), Carolin Simon (Germany); Viviane Asseyi (France), Giulia Gwinn (Germany), Lina Magull (Germany); Fs Lineth Beerensteyn (Netherlands)
Glasgow City: Ds Janine van Wyk (South Africa, former Houston Dash); Zaneta Wyne (Newport Beach, California); M Leanne Crichton (Scotland), Hayley Lauder (Scotland); F Krystyna Freda (Princeton, New Jersey)
Lyon: GK Sarah Bouhaddi (France); Ds Lucy Bronze (England), Kadeisha Buchanan (Canada), Ellie Carpenter (Australia, former Portland Thorns), Wendie Renard (France); Ms. Delphine Cascarino (France), Amandine Henry (France), Saki Kumagai (Japan), Amel Majri (France), Dzsenifer Marozson (Germany); Fs Ada Hegerberg (Norway), Eugenie Le Sommer (France), Nikita Parris (England), Jodie Taylor (England, from OL Reign), Shanice van de Sanden (Netherlands)
Paris Saint-Germain: GK Christiane Endler (Chile); Ds Alana Cook (Worcester, Mass.), Irene Paredes (Spain); Ms. Sara Dobritz (Germany), Formiga (Brazil), Grace Geyoro (France), Ashley Lawrence (Canada), Nadia Nadim (Denmark); Fs Ramona Bachmann (Switzerland), Kadidiatou Diani (France), Jordyn Huiteman (Canada), Marie-Antoinette Katoto (France)
VfL Wolfsburg: GK Almuth Schult (Germany); D Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh (Germany); Ms. Lara Dickenmann (Switzerland), Lena Goessling (Germany), Lena Oberdorf (Germany); Fs Pernille Harder (Denmark), Ewa Pajor (Poland), Alexandra Popp (Germany)
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