Everything Australian Football Fans Need To Know About Watching the Euros and Copa America

Everything Australian Football Fans Need To Know About Watching the Euros and Copa America

Between World Cup news, A-League live airing updates and the excitement of the Euros and Copa América – there’s a lot to keep up with in the world of football right now.

If you’re keen to catch all the action around the EURO 2020 and Copa América 2021 from Australia, however, we’ve pulled together all the details you need to know right now.

Update 6/7: In huge news, Optus Sport has announced it will make its live coverage of the UEFA EURO 2020 semi-finals and final matches free to watch for all Australians. 

What are the UEFA Euro 2020 and Copa América 2021 tournaments?

For the uninitiated, the UEFA Euro is a football competition featuring the men’s national teams within the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). For a competition first this year, the event will be hosted across 11 cities.

The UEFA Euro 2020 kicked off with the following group stages:

Group A: Turkey, Italy, Wales, Switzerland
Group B: Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Russia
Group C: Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria, North Macedonia
Group D: England, Croatia, Scotland, Czech Republic
Group E: Spain, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia
Group F: Hungary, Portugal, France, Germany

Similarly, CONMEBOL Copa América is a tournament featuring the men’s national teams within the South American Football Confederation.

There has been a fair bit of news about this event, with Argentina and Colombia deciding to pull out as hosts of the competition as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Brazil has since stepped in to host the tournament despite the World Health Organisation advising against the decision. Brazil has been particularly hard hit by the virus.

The group schedule for the Copa América is:

Group A: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay (formerly Australia)
Group B: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela (formerly Qatar)

As there are only 10 members in the CONMEBOL, during each tournament two guest nations are invited to join – building the competition to 12 countries.

This time around the guest nations were Australia and the host of the FIFA World Cup for 2022, Qatar. The Socceroos and Qatar have since withdrawn from the competition, however.

When are the biggest games?

UEFA Euro games

UEFA Euro Copa
(Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)

The UEFA Euro is set to run from June 11 to July 11 2021 (June 12 to July 12 in Australia).

Upcoming matches will play out as follows:

Sunday, June 27

Wales vs Denmark – 2:00 am AEST
Italy vs Austria – 5:00 am AEST

Monday, June 28

Netherlands vs Czech Republic – 2:00 am AEST
Belgium vs Portugal – 5:00 am AEST

Tuesday, June 29 

Croatia vs Spain – 2:00 am AEST
France vs Switzerland – 5:00 am AEST

Wednesday, June 30

England vs Germany – 2:00 am AEST
Sweden vs Ukraine – 5:00 am AEST

Quarter-finals

Saturday, July 3

QF1: Switzerland vs Spain – 2:00 am AEST
QF2: Belgium vs Italy – 5:00 am AEST

Sunday, July 4

QF3: Czech Republic vs Denmark – 2:00 am AEST
QF4: Ukraine vs England – 5:00 am AEST

Semi-finals

Wednesday, July 7

SF1: Italy vs Spain – 5:00 am AEST

Thursday, July 8

SF2: England vs Denmark – 5:00 am AEST

Final

Monday, July 12

Italy vs England – 5:00 am AEST

Copa América games

Copa America 2021
(Photo by Wagner Meier/Getty Images)

The Copa América will run from June 13 to July 10 (June 14 to July 10 in Australia).

Match schedule is as follows:

Thursday, June 24

Brazil vs Colombia – 10:00 am AEST

Friday, June 25

Bolivia vs Uruguay – 7:00 am AEST
Chile vs Paraguay – 10:00 am AEST

Monday, June 28

Brazil vs Ecuador – 7:00 am AEST
Venezuela vs Peru – 10:00 am AEST

Tuesday, June 29

Bolivia vs Argentina – 7:00 am AEST
Uruguay vs Paraguay – 10:00 am AEST

Quarter-finals

Saturday, July 3

QF1: Peru vs Paraguay – 7:00 am AEST
QF2: Brazil vs Chile – 10:00 am AEST

Sunday, July 4

QF3: Uruguay vs Colombia – 7:00 am AEST
QF4 – Argentina vs Ecuador – 10:00 am AEST

Semi-finals

Tuesday, July 6

SF1: Brazil vs Peru – 9:00 am AEST

Wednesday, July 7

SF1: Argentina vs Colombia – 11:00 am AEST

Finals 

Saturday, July 10

Colombia vs Peru – 10:00 am AEST

Sunday, July 11

Argentina vs Brazil – 10:00 am AEST

How do I watch the UEFA Euro 2020 and Copa América 2021 in Australia?

Optus Sport is the home of these football comps this year. In a statement on the news, it shared that:

“Optus Sport will exclusively broadcast 79 international matches across 31 days, and subscribers can expect a world-class standard of coverage and punditry out of live studios in Sydney and London, along with pitch-side analysis across Europe”.

UEFA EURO 2020 kicked off live on Optus Sport on June 12, with Copa América commencing on June 14.

If you’re an Optus customer, you may get access to Optus Sport included in your plan so keep an eye out for that. Non-Optus customers can subscribe for $14.99 per month, or for a limited time, grab a 3-month plan for $29.99 or an Annual Pass for $99 for 12 months (just keep in mind those deals automatically renew unless you cancel afterwards).

Update: In news announced on July 6, 2021, Optus Sport has shared it will be offering access to the UEFA Euros semi-final and final matches to all Aussies, free.

The two semi-finals (Wednesday, July 7 and Thursday, July 8) and final (Monday, July 12) will see England, Italy, Denmark and Spain fight it out for the title. Head of TV and Content, Corin Dimopoulos, said:

“With the likes of Harry Kane and Lorenzo Insigne to be in action across the Euro finals, all Australians can now watch these three live matches on Optus Sport for free without a subscription.

We recognise that a lot of the country is currently restricted when it comes to going round to friends’ houses or to a venue to watch games together, and we are therefore pleased to provide as many Australians as we can with the opportunity to enjoy the last three tournament games in the comfort of every home.”

How to watch the UEFA Euro Semi-Finals and Final free

Optus Sport shared that Aussies can gain access to watch these games free by downloading the Optus Sport app or visiting https://sport.optus.com.au  on a web browser.

“Inside the Optus Sport app, live matches that are free to watch without a subscription will be marked with a green ‘Free’ tag on the match tile (which appears to users without a premium subscription)”.

If you are prompted to log in with an Optus Sport account on platforms like the Optus Sport Connected TV apps, you can create a free account here, without paying for a subscription.

Optus shares that on “Fetch, viewers can access the live stream of those matches via ‘Optus Sport Free’ channel 154 in their EPG”.

More on Optus Sport Euros coverage here.

This article on the UEFA Euro and Copa tournaments in Australia has been updated since its original publish date. We will continue to update with additional detail.


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