Football events have always been very popular in the city, and for some years the Internet has been so fast that it can support new services that allow watch football in streaming and replace the antenna and satellite cable without any regrets, at a very high quality (especially if we are lucky enough to rely on a direct fiber optic connection or FTTH).In this guide we will show you how to watch football streaming on PC and Smart TV using the Internet as a means to access content without using a satellite decoder or antenna cable. In the vast majority of cases, having one is enough Internet connection of at least 10 Megabits per second, so you can make compatible apps for PC and Smart TVs.
Streaming football online
In the following chapters we will first show you the paid services, which allow you to access the entire national and international football offer; in the second part of the guide we will find the (few) free legal services that allow you to watch football in streaming online and we will answer all doubts and curiosities about football in streaming in general.
Paid streaming services
Currently, we can stream football matches via the Internet through three services: NOW TV, DAZN and Eleven Sports.
With the NOW TV platform it is the best solution to watch football on TV; we will be able to see the same events broadcast on the Sky satellite: 7 matches out of 10 of the Serie A, all the Champions League matches, all the Europa League matches, the Premier League with 5 matches in round and the Bundesliga with 3 matches in round.
The subscription is managed in a simple way, as if we were using Netflix (which from this point of view has made school): the subscription can be canceled or blocked at any time, with the possibility of resuming paying in another month without constraints and without penalties. NOW TV offers a single package for see all sport without limits at the cost of € 29,99 per month; if we are wondering what are the events included in the offer we tell you immediately that it is possible to see the Serie A TIM 2020/2021 (with 7 matches out of 10 every day), the UEFA Champions League 2020/2021, the UEFA Europa League 2020 / 2021, the Premier League (with 5 games per round), the Bundesliga (with 3 games per round), MotoGP, Formula 1, International Tennis with the ATP Masters 1000, the NBA show and much more.
The live broadcasts can be viewed directly in the browser of our computer by opening the NOW TV site or by installing NOW TV app on our Smart TV: at the time of writing the NOW TV app is present on practically all modern televisions equipped with Smart technology (especially if we focus on famous manufacturers such as Samsung or LG).
If we want to follow the missing matches of Serie A and the other foreign leagues we suggest you subscribe to DAZN.
With DAZN we will be able to see 3 Serie A TIM matches every day, Serie BKT, La Liga, La Ligue 1, Eredivisie, L'FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Copa Libertadores and other competitions from all over the world. The DAZN service is not just football, in fact we can also find the direct of the MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3, volleyball championships, American football, rugby, motor races, fights, darts, boxing and even the channels Eurosport 1 HD and Eurosport 2 HD (which offer tennis, basketball, cycling, winter sports and much more).
Also in this case the subscription is managed as on Netflix: we can create an account and pay every month to view the games, with the possibility of suspending and resuming at any time without restrictions and without penalties. At the time of writing the DAZN subscription is offered to € 9,99 per month, to be able to see all the events broadcast live, the hightlights of the most beautiful meetings and other exclusive contents. DAZN also offers live events directly from the browser or by installing the DAZN app on our Smart TV: it is now available everywhere, just search for it in the respective store and install it.
If, on the other hand, we are interested in Serie C matches and other minor sports, we can take a look at the Eleven Sports service.
With this service we will have access to all the matches of the Serie C championship, all the games of the playoffs and playouts for this championship, all the matches of the Superlega championship and all the matches of the Superlega City Cup at the price of 7,90. € per month, with the possibility of subscribing to a season ticket (€ 69,99 for the whole year) or reserved only for volleyball (€ 5,99 per month). The matches can be viewed from the browser of any PC or from the app.
If we wanted to summarize the costs for watching sports via the Internet we get a sum equal to € 47,88 per month, an affordable price considering the cost of the alternatives: if we wanted to follow the traditional line that is the Sky satellite decoder, we must take into account the cost of the Sky system to which we will necessarily have to add the cost of DAZN to the total, arriving at exceed € 70 per month and the definitive disappearance of Mediaset Premium as a broadcaster for matches.
In this regard we can also read our guide How to watch games on DAZN on PC, TV, Android and iPhone
Free and legal streaming services
At the time of writing, Rai owns the rights to show the City Cup matches, the matches of the National team, the Super Cup match and the matches of the National Under21 team. Mediaset, on the other hand, holds the rights for the Wednesday matches in the Champions League and for some matches of the final phase, but in the latter case it depends on the presence or absence of an team. To this we add that some Europa League matches are broadcast on the digital terrestrial TV8 channel, especially if the players play.
To watch the Rai, Mediaset and TV8 channels in streaming for free just use the dedicated apps or access the respective sites for the live channels; below we have collected all the links for the sites and apps that we can download or visit:
- RaiPlay (Android, iPhone / iPad, Windows 10 App and Website)
- Mediaset Play (Android, iPhone / iPad and Website)
- TV8 (Website)
Streaming match quality
We will obviously get the best quality by focusing on Sky satellite platform, which broadcasts many games in 4K UHD without any bandwidth or signal problems (thanks to the satellite), but also NOW TV defends well with a maximum quality of 1080p and 50 FPS to all users who have a line of at least 10 Megabits per second (we actually recommend betting on lines of at least 20 Megabits per second, so as to be able to compensate for the use of the Internet by other users of the network).
DAZN e Eleven sports at the moment they provide lower quality compared to NOW TV, but if the network conditions are good DAZN offers a good show with constant 720p transmissions (comparable to the HD offered by Mediaset Premium in the past). For the most watched events there could certainly be a drop in quality, but in recent months, at least the stability has increased, since everyone can view the events without running into streaming errors.
If you have any problems with any of the other streaming services listed above, please read our guide Live video streaming problems: how to solve (DAZN, NOW TV, IPTV etc.).
How to watch football streaming on Smart TV
On Smart TV it is very easy to access the services offered by NOW TV and DAZN, since the apps are available for the latest Smart TV models from their respective stores (in particular for all Smart TV models from 2016 onwards). To download the NOW TV app simply connect the Smart TV to the Internet, access the content Store with your remote control and find the dedicated app (often included in the Entertainment or Fun section of the Store).
Once added to the app, open it and enter the login credentials of the NOW TV account we have, so that you can see all the games broadcast from the platform in the comfort of the sofa and living room.
For DAZN the procedure is very similar: we connect the TV to the Internet, open the app store and search for DAZN among those available.
If we do not see the apps appear or the Smart TV does not connect to the Internet, we can try to solve by reading our guide What slows down the speed of the Wifi network and the internet connection.
How to stream football on non-smart TVs
If our Smart TV is not compatible with apps or the Smart component is completely missing, we can still see NOW TV and DAZN by connecting some dedicated devices.
To watch NOW TV we can get the NOW TV Smart Stick, already optimized for use with the service.
This small HDMI dongle allows you to watch all NOW TV games at the highest quality, as if it were a native app! It connects to an HDMI port, connects it to your NOW TV account and is immediately ready, with all the Sport channels well cataloged. The device is compatible with the DAZN app, so we can take it into consideration to be able to see the matches of both season tickets without any problem.
A good way to watch both streaming services on your TV is to bet on Chromecast with Google TV, available from the Google store.
This HDMI dongle is the best way to stream football on non-smart TV! With Chromecast we will have support for both services both through direct installation of the app on the device screen (thanks to Google TV) and through the Cast protocol; in the latter case, just install the DAZN and / or NOW TV apps on Android or iOS devices and broadcast the game to the Chromecast to view them at the highest quality on the television. Once purchased and connected to an HDMI port on the TV, let's connect it to the Internet to make it operational. The apps to download are available below:
- NOW TV: Android and Apple
- DAZN: Android and Apple
Alternatively we can also focus on the Amazon Fire TV Stick, available on Amazon.
This small dongle connects to the HDMI port and to the home Wi-Fi network and allows you to view the games thanks to the Firefox web browser, compatible with all the services listed or by installing the specific app for DAZN.
If we only have the DAZN subscription it is one of the best choices, if instead we have both subscriptions we will have to use the dedicated DAZN app and the Firefox browser for NOW TV. In this regard, we invite you to read ours Amazon Fire TV Stick guide with hidden tricks, apps and features.
Conclusions
If we are big football fans and want to watch the games in streaming without a dish and without an antenna, just use one of the apps or one of the methods described above to be able to enjoy a game at a good quality, paying the right amount (for those who want everything) or by taking advantage of the events broadcast for free (for those who do not want to spend anything). There are certainly possibilities to watch football matches for free in streaming via some sites, but as it is illegal it is not possible to talk about it here,
In another guide we showed you how watch football matches on Android and iPhone.
If, on the other hand, we are looking for a way to maximize Internet speed when we use streaming services, we advise you to follow the suggestions proposed in our article on how Increase video streaming speed to maximum.
Streaming football matches to watch online on PC and TV
