BBC Announce Plans For Comprehensive Coverage Of UEFA Women’s Euro 2022

The United Kingdom’s flagship broadcaster, the BBC, today announced their plans to deliver 24/7 coverage of the UEFAEFA
Women’s Euro in England this summer across television, radio and digital. They have also pledged to broadcast every game on its two main channels, BBC One and BBC Two as well as on its website.

The BBC lost the rights for the last Women’s Euro in 2017 to Channel Four but have regained them for the home tournament in which they will be the host broadcaster providing the footage which will be used around the world. All 31 matches in the tournament aside from four of the closing group-stage matches which are played simultaneously, will be shown live on BBC One and Two. This contrasts with the last occasion on which the BBC broadcast the tournament when the majority of non-England matches were only shown on their digital channel BBC Three.

Now, the BBC have pledged to show every England and Northern Ireland game live on BBC One along with the Netherlands’ eagerly-anticipated opening match against Olympic silver-medalists Sweden, and France’s game with Belgium. The remaining thirteen matches will be shown on BBC Two. This comes on the back of a season in which the BBC, in a joint-deal with Sky Sports, made a similar commitment to broadcast games from the English Women’s Super League on the broadcaster’s two main channels rather than on its website.

To maximize exposure around the 31 games, BBC Sounds will also release a DaiDAI
ly Euros Podcast which is dedicated to all of the stories around the tournament. In addition, the BBC website will provide live texts, reports, in-play stats, player-rating, features and columns during the tournament. There will also be in-play video clips, match highlights, video features and player masterclasses on the website for audiences to enjoy.

Former England player Alex Scott is one of an experienced, all-female team of presenters, alongside Gabby Logan, Reshmin Chowdhury, Eilidh Barbour and Kelly Somers, who will host the coverage beginning on July 6. After a 13-year international career in which her games were often only shown on marginal digital channels, she explained to me the benefits of having games on the broadcaster’s flagship channels.

“When you see the (audience) figures across the Women’s Super League now, having those games on BBC One and BBC Two is huge, getting those new people into women’s football. Us, that have loved women’s football and always followed it will know it’s on another channel and go and search for it and know to sit there and tune in, but it’s for those people sometimes at home who turn on the television and think ‘oh, I’m missing a game’. Then, actually if they’re captivated, they follow the story, they stay with you throughout the Euros, that’s the difference of being on BBC One and BBC Two.”

Nonetheless, Scott she believes it is not just up to the media to generate interest in the tournament. “We sometimes put a bit of responsibility on the BBC, that the BBC needs to drive this. It’s equally important for the federations and the players to do this. I remember having this conversation at the start of a game and not one player had tweeted themselves that they were about to be playing or asking people to tune in and watch the game. I think it’s a shared responsibility for me to be sharing on my socials and shouting about England as much as the BBC should be, or everyone in the England camp or a Vivianne Miedema. I don’t think the responsibility is just on the BBC.”

Men’s legend Ian Wright will also provide insight and analysis for the tournament. On the last occasion, the country hosted the women’s European championship in 2005, Scott was a member of the England side working part-time to subsidise her playing career. “I think I was still working in the Arsenal laundry! He was one of the players who’s stuff I was washing.” Scott still carries the photo of her with Wright in her personal life book.

“After that we were put on centralized contacts that allowed us to still work but also get funding from The FA (Football Association)”. Now the women’s game in England is fully professional and the anticipation around the tournament has led to several games around the country, not just the ones involving England, selling out of tickets months ahead of the finals.

Scott believes this is illustrative of the strides women’s soccer has made even since she retired from playing in 2018. “We’re already having games sold out. Normally you only have the home nations getting the crowds. For other games to be selling the tickets as they have done, shows the growth of the entire game.”