How to Stream Soccer Without Cable

Services: Peacock Premium, $5 per month; FuboTV’s Starter package, $65 per month; or Sling TV’s Blue package, $35 per month

England’s Premier League, home to popular teams including Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester City, is probably the most confusing to follow because the games are shown on different channels from week to week. The list includes NBC, NBC Sports Network, and USA on cable, and the newish streaming platform Peacock Premium. What you might not know is that cable replacement services such as FuboTV and Sling TV carry these networks, enabling you to follow the league without subscribing to cable.

Christopher Harris at World Soccer Talk says some fans simply go to a local bar or restaurant when a game they want to watch is on a channel they don’t have, just as if you wanted to watch a Yankees game but don’t have the YES Network.

Services: Fanatiz, $8 per month; FuboTV’s Latino Plus package, $33 per month; Sling TV’s Best of Spanish TV package, $10 per month

France’s top league, known as Ligue 1, received a boost this year with the arrival of Lionel Messi at Paris Saint-Germain, better known as PSG. Watching Messi & Co. every week is fairly straightforward because all Ligue 1 games are shown on the cable channel BeIn Sports, which is available via the sports-specific streaming service Fanatiz. The FuboTV and Sling TV packages listed above are the least expensive packages that carry BeIn Sports.

Service: ESPN Plus, $7 per month

Germany’s Bundesliga, home to the likes of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, is super-straightforward: All games are shown on ESPN Plus, which also carries Spain’s top soccer league, as well as other sports, including mixed martial arts and select college football conferences.

Service: Paramount Plus, $5 per month

Italian football got a boost this year following the success of the national team at Euro 2020 in July. (The tournament was delayed a year because of the pandemic but kept the name “Euro 2020.”) You can follow teams such as Juventus, Internationale, Milan, and Roma with an inexpensive Paramount Plus subscription. The service includes select college football (such as the Southeastern Conference) as well as content from ViacomCBS, (“Paw Patrol” and “Seal Team”).

Services: FuboTV’s Starter package, $65 per month; Sling TV’s Best of Spanish TV package, $10 per month

Mexico’s top league is on a handful of NBC-owned broadcast and cable channels, including Telemundo and Universo. The least expensive way to get these channels via streaming is with the Best of Spanish TV package from Sling TV. FuboTV also carries these channels, along with many others, hence the much higher price.

Service: ESPN Plus, $7 per month

La Liga is home to popular teams including FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, with all league games shown on ESPN Plus. Many La Liga games are also shown in Spanish on ESPN Plus.

Service: Paramount Plus, $5 per month

The Champions League is an annual European competition spanning September through late May or early June that pits the best teams in the top leagues against each other in a mixed-format tournament. The winner is proclaimed champion of Europe. The television rights for this competition have bounced around a little bit in recent years, but the matches can now be seen on Paramount Plus.

Services: ESPN Plus, $7 per month; FuboTV’s Starter package, $65 per month; Sling TV’s Orange package, $35 per month

Most MLS games are shown on ESPN Plus, though every now and then there will be a game that’s available only on the traditional ESPN cable channel. For those games, you’d need a service such as FuboTV or Sling TV—or a friend with cable.