Fans will need a subscription to watch this season’s Champions League, Europa League and Conference League finals after TNT Sports decided against making them free-to-air. For the first time since the Champions League was launched in 1992, supporters will have to pay to see the final.
That means the final question around the Europa League is now settled: is europa league final free to watch? Not on free television. Aston Villa meet Freiburg in the Europa League on Wednesday at 20:00 BST, while Crystal Palace face Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League on 27 May at 20:00 BST and Arsenal take on Paris St-Germain in the Champions League on 30 May at 17:00 BST. Fans will not need a full TNT Sports subscription, but they will need access through Warner Bros Discovery’s new streaming service, HBO Max, for one month.
The scale of the change is hard to miss. The Champions League final had been free on ITV for the first 23 years before BT Sport won the rights starting from 2015-16. BT Sport then continued to make the final available without a subscription through to 2023, even broadcasting it on its YouTube channel at the same time. That changed after BT Sport was bought by Warner Bros Discovery and rebranded as TNT Sports. While the finals remained available without cost, fans had to sign up for a discovery+ account to get access. Discovery+ has since been replaced by HBO Max, which has no free option.
Sport understands UEFA is disappointed and argued that the finals should remain free-to-air, but the decision on how to show the games remains the choice of the rights holder. TNT Sports has been broadcasting the Champions League since 2015 and will lose those rights in 2027. Six years ago, the government rejected a House of Lords select committee proposal to add the Champions League final to the list of crown jewels events, leaving the match outside the strongest protection for free television.
There will still be free ways to follow the biggest match of the season. Highlights of the Champions League final will be available on the Sport website and across social media channels 15 minutes after the trophy lift, with highlights on iPlayer and television later in the evening. Live commentary of all three finals will be on Radio 5 Live. For fans who do not want a longer subscription, the one-month HBO Max option is the new route in.
