Football on 5

Lore & Background

Football on 5 began with Channel 5's first live football match in May 1997, a 1998 World Cup qualifier between Poland and England in Chorzów. From 1997 to 2007, the programme showed many away qualifying matches for the home nations, including England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It also held terrestrial UK rights for the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2001, 2003, and 2005, showing each final.

Reader's Guide

The backbone of Football on 5's coverage was the UEFA Europa League (and its predecessor, the UEFA Cup), which it showed every season from 1997–98 until the end of the 2011–12 season. For the three seasons starting 2009–10, Channel 5 was the UK's lead network for Europa League coverage, showing three finals: Fulham vs Atlético Madrid (2010), Porto vs Braga (2011), and Atlético Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao (2012). The programme also covered Scottish League Cup matches from 2002 to 2004, Serie A for the 2007–08 season, and various pre-season friendlies. After a three-year hiatus, Football on 5 returned in 2015 as Football League Tonight, providing highlights of the Football League and Football League Trophy. Its significance lies in being Channel 5's longest-running non-news programme and a key broadcaster of European club football for British audiences.

Did You Know?

• Channel 5's first live football match was a 1998 World Cup qualifier between Poland and England in May 1997.
• The programme showed two UEFA Europa League finals as first-choice broadcaster: 2010 and 2011.
• Football on 5 was Channel 5's longest-running non-news programme, airing from 1997 to 2012.
• The show covered the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2001 and 2005, though the BBC held UK terrestrial rights for those tournaments, and ITV held rights for the 2003 edition.