ESPN lines up six European preseason matches following World Cup

The World Cup may be over, but ESPN is betting that viewers are still interested in soccer by televising six preseason matches featuring European clubs touring the United States.

The matches will see Liverpool FC, Wrexham AFC, Leeds United and Sunderland AFC playing in Nashville, New York City, Chicago, Tampa, and Philadelphia.

Of the six matches, three will receive English-language linear television coverage. Liverpool-Wrexham will air on ESPN on July 29, Sunderland-Leeds will air on ESPN2 on July 30, and Sunderland-Wrexham will air on ESPN on Aug. 2.

The remaining three matches will stream exclusively on ESPN Unlimited, though Liverpool-Sunderland on July 25 and Liverpool-Leeds on Aug. 2 will air in Spanish on ESPN Deportes.

This announcement comes as ESPN has generally been reducing its soccer coverage. In recent years, the network has lost the rights to the UEFA Euros, Bundesliga, Serie A and the EFL Championship. ESPN regularly airs these preseason tours of the United States by European clubs, especially involving Wrexham, which has a tie-in to the Welcome to Wrexham series on sister channel FX.

Still, the timing of these matches just two weeks after the World Cup will give ESPN a perfect opportunity to try to sustain soccer interest. Plus, while ESPN’s coverage has shrunk, it still has the rights to La Liga and the FA Cup in Europe, along with the USL and NWSL in the United States.

For these preseason matches, ESPN is tapping play-by-play commentators Adrian Healey and Mark Donaldson, along with analysts Alejandro Moreno, Janusz Michallik and Rodrigo Fáez.

ESPN will not be the only American network picking up club preseason matches over the next few weeks. CBS Sports Network will air matches featuring major European teams beginning in August. Manchester United-PSG on Aug. 8 headlines CBSSN’s slate, which also includes Manchester City-Inter on Aug. 1, Arsenal-Real Betis on Aug. 5, Chelsea-Milan on Aug. 8 and Liverpool-Monaco on Aug. 9.

Even Fox will take part in the preseason action. Fox Deportes will air Chelsea-Juventus on Aug. 5 and Leeds United-Manchester United on Aug. 12. English-language coverage for those matches has not yet been announced.

So if you are looking for some soccer after the World Cup, and MLS is not scratching the itch, you will have plenty of European preseason options to keep you busy.