Channel 4 and TNT Sports have secured the broadcasting rights for the Women's FA Cup, aligning it with the men's tournament. This three-season deal will commence from the start of the 2025-26 season, extending through to the end of 2027-28.
English soccer's Women's FA Cup knockout tournament will be broadcast live domestically (and in Ireland) by a combination of TNT Sports and Channel 4. Pay-TV broadcaster TNT Sports will cover an annual total of nineteen matches from this prestigious cup competition. The coverage plan includes one match each from both first and second rounds.
On its part, free-to-air commercial network Channel 4 has committed to broadcasting six games per campaign, covering one game per round. The grand finale at each season’s end will be aired live by both broadcasters as announced today by Football Association (FA), soccer’s governing body in England.
Transition from BBC to new broadcasters
The current cycle running from 2021 through to the end of season 2024-25 has seen BBC, UK's public-service broadcaster, airing live broadcasts of Women’s FA Cup matches under a deal unveiled in May 2019. This arrangement allowed BBC to show both semi-finals and finals live while also holding rights for highlights and digital clips.
For Warner Bros Discovery-owned TNT Sports, this new acquisition aligns perfectly with their four-season deal covering men’s FA Cup starting from season 2025-26 onwards. They also hold broadcasting rights for men’s FA Youth Cup.
Mark Bullingham, FA chief executive, said:
"We have two broadcast partners who are deeply committed to growing the competition and taking it to new audiences over the next three seasons."
Channel Four is no stranger to football either; they recently acquired rights to broadcast Men's UEFA U21 European Championship national team event scheduled for mid-April in Slovakia between June11th -28th. They will showcase all England games during the tournament, having also aired the 2023 edition of this event.
Final showdown and future plans
The final match of the 2024-25 Women's FA Cup, title sponsored by Adobe, will feature Manchester United against defending champions Chelsea. Chelsea is also the winner of this season's Women's Super League (WSL).
The WSL is being broadcast live this season and then through to 2029-30 by a combination of TNT Sports' pay-TV rival Sky and BBC. A five-year extension to that effect was unveiled last October with a reported total value of around $84 million.
This new broadcasting deal marks an exciting era for women’s soccer as it continues to gain recognition and popularity on par with men’s football.
