Football’s most historic domestic cup competition, the Emirates FA Cup, will continue to be accessible to all fans following a new agreement that will see the BBC become the free-to-air broadcaster of the competition in a four-year deal starting from the 2025-2026 season.
BBC Sport, under a new partnership with TNT Sports, has secured free-to-air live coverage of 14 games per season co-exclusively with TNT Sports. The BBC will show two live matches from each round through to the quarter-finals, one semi-final and then the final. The deal also provides for the BBC to have highlights and digital clips across its platforms.
Interim director of BBC Sport, Philip Bernie said: “The BBC has a proud history of bringing fans across the nation together for all the magic and drama of the FA Cup. This partnership for the next four years is brilliant news and, alongside our recent Premier League extension and UEFA Champions League highlights coming this year, means that BBC Sport will deliver fans top class analysis, commentary and coverage of the biggest football competitions free to air and accessible for all.”
Trojan Paillot, SVP sports rights acquisitions and syndication, WBD Sports Europe (TNT’s parent), said: “TNT Sports will broadcast every single game outside of 3pm kick-offs, starting from the first round, ensuring fans can watch more of the Emirates FA Cup than ever before all in one place.”
“Our ambition is to make more of the live Emirates FA Cup action available to fans than ever before, so the BBC are an outstanding partner to ensure that alongside more games we also make the competition as widely available as possible.”
Mark Bullingham, FA Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted that the BBC will continue as one of our Emirates FA Cup broadcast partners, under this new deal with TNT Sports. It was always our intention to ensure that this very special competition would be accessible for everyone, and this new broadcast partnership will enable fans to see more of its matches live than ever before from the start of the 2025-26 season, across both TNT Sports and free-to-air on the BBC. The BBC has told many of the magical and memorable stories that only the Emirates FA Cup can create, and we look forward to making even more history together in the years ahead.”
BBC Sport’s coverage of the iconic knock-out competition has captured all the drama from every round on the road to Wembley Stadium for the last 10 years. This latest deal completes an impressive roster of football coverage, added to Premier League and UEFA Champions League highlights and audio packages, bringing fans all the best action, commentary and analysis on the UK’s most popular sports broadcaster.
BBC Sport’s existing audio rights and commentary deal with The FA covering the Emirates FA Cup and home England internationals continues until 2026.
