The Champions League final will not be free to watch in the UK this year for the first time since the competition’s modern rebrand 34 years ago. TNT Sports, which holds the UK live rights to UEFA’s three club competitions, has decided not to make any of this season’s European finals available free of charge.
That means Arsenal’s meeting with Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on Saturday, Aston Villa’s Europa League final against Freiburg on Wednesday and Crystal Palace’s Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano seven days later will sit behind a paywall. Viewers who are not already customers of TNT Sports or its streaming platform, HBO Max, can still sign up in the next few days, but the cheapest package is £4.99 and TNT Sports costs £31.99 a month on most platforms.
The decision marks a sharp break from a long run of free access in the UK. When BT Sport first acquired UEFA rights in the 2015-16 season, the Champions League and Europa League finals were streamed live without charge. Before that, ITV carried Champions League finals from 1992 until 2003, then shared rights with Sky Sports until 2015. BT later streamed its European finals on YouTube before TNT Sports took over the contract two years ago, and until March the matches were still available free to discovery+ users who registered with the service.
That option disappeared after Warner Bros. Discovery launched HBO Max in the UK in March and moved TNT Sports away from discovery+. The broadcaster is now limiting access to subscribers, even as it enters the final stretch of a rights deal that will end with the 2027-28 season, when it loses all three competitions after being outbid by Paramount and Sky Sports in UEFA’s latest auction.
The choice has also irritated UEFA sources, who said it breaks the spirit of a contract that requires “best endeavours” to make the finals available for free. For fans, the effect is simpler: a run of finals that had become a rare no-cost showcase for European football in Britain is ending just as Arsenal, Villa and Palace chase trophies on three different fronts.
