One of the things that I’ve personally been really impressed with about Fox’s presentation of the Champions League has been their willingness to replay the matches later on in the week. This seems like a simple thing (after all, they replay Premier League matches ad nauseum throughout the week), but it’s not something that’s done with the CONCACAF Champions League, last season’s UEFA Cup matches, or the MLS games.
The trick is to figure out which games are airing when so you can watch or record them; the schedule’s usually formally collected on Tuesday, when you’re already at work when it does you no good. That’s where we come in. After the jump is your complete schedule, including the first replay (where applicable), for every match this week.
DAY #1 (TUESDAY, 9/29/09)
Rubin Kazan v. Inter Milan: DirecTV (9/29/09, 12:30 PM EST), FSC (9/30/09, 11:00 AM)
Rangers v. Sevilla: FSC (9/29/09, 2:30 PM EST & 9/30/09 4:00 AM)
Arsenal v. Olympiacos: FSN (9/29/09, 2:30 PM EST), FSC (10:00 PM EST)
Unirea Urziceni v. VfB Stuttgart: DirecTV (9/29/09, 2:30 PM EST)
Fiorentina v. Liverpool: Setanta (9/29/09, 2:30 PM EST), FSC (5:00 PM EST)
AZ Alkmaar v. Standard Liege: DirecTV (9/29/09, 2:30 PM EST)
Barcelona v. Dynamo Kiev: Fox Sports en Español (9/29/09, 2:30 PM EST), FSC (9/30/09, 2:00 AM)
Debrecini v. Lyon: DirecTV (9/29/09, 2:30 PM EST)
As you can see, three matches (Unirea Urziceni v. VfB Stuttgart, AZ Alkmaar v. Standard Liege, Debrecini v. Lyon) aren’t shown on Fox Soccer at all; while in theory I’d like all eight matches, the reality is that few of us will have watched those games, and Fox Soccer’s done a nice job of making sure all of the big players in the Champions League will be broadcast on their network at some point.
DAY #2 (WEDNESDAY, 9/30/09)
CSKA Moscow v. Beşiktaş: DirecTV (9/30/09, 12:30 PM EST)
Manchester United v. Wolfsburg: FSC (9/30/09, 2:30 PM EST & 10/1/09, 11:00 PM EST)
FC Porto v. Atletico Madrid: DirecTV (9/30/09, 2:30 PM EST), FSC (10/1/09, 2:00 AM)
AC Milan v. FC Zürich: DirecTV (9/30/09, 2:30 PM EST)
Bayern Munich v. Juventus: DirecTV (9/30/09, 2:30 PM EST), FSC (10/1/09, 11:00 AM)
Bordeaux v. Maccabi Haifa: DirecTV (9/30/09, 2:30 PM EST)
Real Madrid v. Olympique Marseille: Fox Sports en Español & Setanta (9/30/09, 2:30 PM EST), FSC (9/30/09, 5:00 PM EST)
APOEL v. Chelsea: Setanta (9/30/09, 2:30 PM EST), FSC (10/1/09, 5:00 PM EST)
Day #2 doesn’t get the same kind of love that Day #1 got; again, three matches aren’t covered, but one of those matches includes the AC Milan. Milan’s a pretty big hitter in the Champions League; sure, they’re playing FC Zürich, but a diehard Milan fan would probably still want to watch the match. Meanwhile, Chelsea’s away match against APOEL will still be watchable but it won’t air until Thursday afternoon; by that time, you’ll probably already know the result (that said, that’s a mismatch of the highest order and I have a feeling that I already know how it’s going to turn out).
Also, last week I railed against the Fox Sports en Español commentary being only in Spanish. Turns out that I was only partially right; the pregame stuff is only in Spanish, but when you watch the actual game the commentary switches over to English if you know how to change it. My bad on that one.
Either way, you should now be all set to record whichever match you’re looking forward to. Come back tomorrow, when I’m sure we’ll have some sort of preview.
You all are my heroes for the day. This is such a bitch to try to figure out at 9:30 pm each night before-hand, or worse, at 7:30 am the day of. And while it sucks to wait until 2 or 4 am to get coverage of a game, if its a 4-3 barn-burner then at least I get a chance to see it at some point, even if I know the score…
Thanks for this! May I crib it for the On Tap at the Pub?
No! you know how many TV execs we had to kill to get our hands on this?!? I don’t think we’ll be seeing Mags for a looooonnnnng time after that trial.
(Yes)
Mags- You are my favorite person in the world right now! I was just going to check the schedule to figure out which matches to DVR, because I will be grading gen chem exams between 2:30 and 5 (awesome, right?) and you just saved me a TON of trouble.
Thanks!