ESPN Goes to Athens for UEFA Champions League Final

Using a full collection of its multimedia assets, ESPN will provide unmatched, daily coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final from Athens, Greece as storied clubs AC Milan and Liverpool FC will battle for the top title in European Club football Wednesday, May 23. 

Programming highlights include:

• UEFA Champions League-related content across eight ESPN platforms: ESPN2,  ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPN360.com, ESPNdeportes.com and ESPNsoccernet.com
• ESPN International coverage reaching 34 million households in 97 countries and territories
• At least 15 on-air commentators (hosts, analysts, reporters, contributors)

ESPN INTERNATIONAL 

ESPN International will provide a combined 30 combined hours of UEFA Champions League coverage in such regions as Africa, Australia, Canada, and Latin America. On-site studio and match production teams will provide content to a variety of ESPN outlets around the world, including:  ESPN’s pan-regional network in Latin America; ESPN Brasil; ESPN in the Pac Rim, ESPN Atlantic, and TSN and RDS in Canada. Immediately following the match, ESPN International will produce four post-game programs simultaneously in three languages – English, Spanish and Portuguese.

ESPN2:  Will present exclusive English-language telecast of the Final in the United States. Play-by-play commentator Derek Rae will be joined by analyst Tommy Smyth and Janusz Michallik, reporting from the field.  Coverage will begin at 2 p.m. ET with a live, 30-minute pre-match show hosted by JP Dellacamera and analysts Seamus Malin, Steve Nicol (a former Liverpool player) and Eric Wynalda. The pre-match program will feature up-to-the-minute reports from Athens’ Olympic Stadium by Rae, Smyth and Michallik.  The final will be re-aired at 7 p.m. ET. 

ESPN Deportes:  The company’s Spanish-language network in the U.S., will present an exclusive telecast featuring play-by-play commentator Fernando Palomo joined by World Cup legend and ESPN Deportes’ soccer analyst Mario Kempes in the booth and Juan Yankilevich reporting from the field.  Programming highlights:

• SportsCenter, Monday, May 21 – Wednesday, May 23 will feature live segments from onsite from former soccer players Daniel Brailovsky and Quique Wolff.
• Fuera de Juego (Mon. 9 p.m. ET., Tue., 8:30 p.m. ET) will originate from ESPN’s set in Athens with hosts Palomo, Kempes and Biscayart.  
• Fútbol Picante will present significant portions of the live soccer show from Athens Monday, May 21 at 9 p.m. ET.  Co-host Brailovsky and commentator David Faitelson will be reporting from Athens.
• On game day, UEFA Champions League programming will begin at 10 a.m. ET, with a re-air of the 2005 UEFA Champions League final featuring AC Milan – Liverpool FC.  Live programming will begin at 1 p.m. with a ninety-minute special preview from Athens’ Olympic Stadium with hosts Biscayart, Wolff and Brailovsky and field reporter Yankilevich.  Immediately after final, the network will offer a live, one-hour special edition of SportsCenter with significant portions originating from Athens.

ESPN360.com:  ESPN’s signature broadband service, available in 15 million homes nationwide, will feature a live simulcast of the ESPN2 telecast.  

ESPNdeportes.com:  The leading Spanish-language sports Web site in the U.S and Latin America will provide in-depth coverage highlighted by extensive online video, real-time Gamecast application featuring live scores and stats as the match unfolds. On game-day, the site will feature multiple chats prior to the game hosted by SportsCenter anchor Jose Hernandez; Jorge Barril Richard Mendez will host a live chat during the match. Additional features include an interactive player and match rater; “Man of the Match” live poll; blogs and podcasts from soccer expert Vito de Palma; photo gallery as the match progresses and video clips highlighting the best goals.

ESPNdeportes.com and ESPNsoccernet.com will, as they have for all 125 UEFA Champions League games this year, provide live online pay-per-view access to the final. On ESPNSoccernet.com it's available in English to users in the US, Australia and New Zealand. On ESPNdeportes.com, Spanish-language live online coverage is available to US users and Latin American users. The price on both sites is US$9.95.

ESPN Deportes Radio:  The only around-the-clock national Spanish-language radio network in the United States, will offer LIVE coverage of the final with Jorge Ramos on the play-by-play and Hernan Pereyra on the analysis.  The radio network will offer a 30-minute pre-and-post game show with onsite reports from Faitelson.

ESPN Classic:  On Tuesday at 4:00 p.m., ET, ESPN Classic will re-air the classic 2005 UEFA Champions League Final between AC Milan and Liverpool. 

- DeportesNR07 -