Uefa expects far higher UK viewing figures for next week’s Champions League final after TNT Sport decided not to make the match available free-to-air for the first time since the competition’s rebrand 34 years ago. The Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal final will instead be shown on HBO Max alongside TNT Sports.
The shift matters because the final has drawn about 1 million viewers on TNT’s free streaming service, discovery+, in each of the past two seasons, while TNT’s overall figures for the 2024 and 2025 finals were about 2.5 million. With an English club in the final, Uefa believes the audience should rise for the first time in three years, and the numbers could be higher still because HBO Max is available in more than 10 million UK households and costs £4.99 a month for the cheapest plan.
For years, British viewers were used to getting the biggest night in European club football without an extra charge. From 2015-16 until 2022-23, BT Sport made the Champions League final free on YouTube in the UK, and before that ITV screened the European Cup final after the competition was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992. TNT’s move breaks with that recent pattern and comes just months after HBO Max launched in the UK in March and quickly attracted millions of subscribers.
Inside Uefa, the decision has stirred unease. Some at the governing body have privately accused TNT of breaking the spirit of a contract that says “best endeavours” must be made to ensure club finals are available for free, although Uefa’s commercial team is understood to be happy with the arrangement. The broadcaster’s broader reach also means the final will be available at no extra cost to Sky Sports and Amazon Prime customers, further widening access even without a free-to-air feed.
The politics of access were already clear online. Jon Trickett wrote on X that all major sporting finals should be free to watch on UK television, and said he would like to see the government take action to ensure future events like the Champions League final are accessible to as many people as possible. That argument has resurfaced because the final is being played at a moment when English interest is likely to lift the audience, but the easiest route to the game is no longer the free one.
For Uefa, the immediate test will be whether next week’s final turns into a ratings event or just a bigger subscription draw. What is already clear is that the days when the Champions League final was broadly free for British viewers are over, and the people watching this one will have to find it on a pay platform first.
