There are of course, lots of arguments about which is the most exciting football league in the world. However for an English speaker there’s surely only one contender for the best football show and that has to be the daddy of them all – Match of the Day.

The name was actually first used in 1964 for a programme about Wimbledon and tennis. However later in that year, in August 1964 it was used as the title of a football show – the show we now know as Match of the Day. The first televised match broadcast was from Anfield and featured highlights of Liverpool versus Arsenal.

Over the years, it has of course had lots of different commentators and pundits but the format has usually stayed pretty much the same.  There are exceptions though as for a period of time from 1988 into the 1990’s the BBC lost the right to broadcast the regular Saturday evening highlights.  The programme did continue but only covered FA cup and some International games during that time.   Indeed it wasn’t until 2003 that the BBC was again able to obtain the rights to highlights and Match of the Day returned to it’s normal Saturday evening slot covering the days Premiership matches.

Can I Watch Match of the Day Online?

For years, Match of the Day was excluded from the BBC’s online coverage due to the changing broadcasting rights. However recently that’s changed and now you can watch Match of the Day live when it broadcasts. It is then made available on the BBC iPlayer archive from midnight on Sunday but only for a few days. The sister programme Match of the Day 2 usually covering midweek matches is also available live and on the iPlayer twenty four hours later.  As you can see they aren’t left on the site for long, so don’t expect to be able to go back and watch matches from a couple of weeks ago.  There is often a Match of the Day repeat on the following early morning if you want to watch it quickly too.

Of course, these are all subject to change year by year – but hopefully Match of the Day will retain the rights to broadcast on a Saturday night at least. Unfortunately for those people abroad, the BBC iPlayer is not normally accessible however there is a workaround demonstrated below.    The method works for Match of the Day live stream and to access or download the programme from the iPlayer archive after.

Not only can you use for accessing the domestic BBC site to stream both live it also allows you to download too although the time restrictions still apply.  It works perfectly for Match of the Day as long as you remember their slightly less accessible than all the other programmes.   Lots of people outside the UK use a VPN to enjoy Match of the Day live on a Saturday night though! All it’s doing is hiding your real location in order to bypass the country blocks and filters used by the BBC website.

Remember if you select a UK server then it will unblock any UK TV channels available online including ITV Hub, Channels 4, 5 and even Sky Go if you have a subscription.

So if you want to watch Match of the Day online from outside the United Kingdom then you’ll need to invest in a similar VPN program.  There are many around, but beware as only a few still work with the BBC as they blocked thousands during 2017.   Make sure you check on a short trial first to make sure it works both for streaming live TV and using the BBC iPlayer.

My personal favorite and the program I’ve been using for over ten years now is called . working perfectly with the BBC iPlayer abroad and indeed all the major media sites.

Try it here IDC