A new domestic football season gets underway in Europe this weekend with Spain’s La Liga, the English Premier League, and France’s Ligue 1 all kicking off amid great anticipation. And, once again, beIN SPORTS is the only place where fans in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) can watch all the games live and exclusive with the best analysis, interviews, and expert insights.
The first match of the new season comes in south-eastern Spain as Almeria get a new La Liga season up and running at home to Raya Vallecano on Friday night. Almeria narrowly avoided dropping back down to the second division last year, so will be keen to show improvement this season. Los Franjirrojos meanwhile may be small in size, but in finishing 11 th last year they equalled their best finish in a decade. Kick-off is at 20:30 MECCA with Arabic and English commentary.
Coverage will be followed immediately by Europa League champions Sevilla welcoming Valencia to the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.
Also on Friday starting at 22:00 MECCA, treble-winners Manchester City travel to Premier League new boys Burnley, and with former City captain Vincent Kompany now at the Turf Moor helm, emotions are sure to run high. The Belgian could hardly have wished for a more difficult introduction to managerial life in the top-flight than a battle of wits against his old mentor Pep Guardiola. When the two sides met in the FA Cup quarter-finals last season, Guardiola’s side won 6-0.
Amid all the speculation regarding the future of PSG’s Kylian Mbappe and the expected arrival of Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele in Paris, Ligue 1 returns at 22:00 MECCA on Friday with Nice hosting LOSC Lille. Lille have a former Barca star of their own in their ranks now following the arrival of Samuel Umtiti and with Paulo Fonseca’s side playing some of the most attractive football in Europe last season, Les Dogues will be hoping to push on and improve on their fifth-place finish.
"With the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 and the Round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores, it seems the ball never stops rolling on beIN,” said Mohammed Al Bader, Managing Director of beIN Channels – MENA.
"Yet it is impossible not to get excited when a new season of domestic football competition kicks off in Europe. Starting this Friday, we will broadcast close to 1,500 matches from across the continent’s top leagues over the next nine months, including the German Bundesliga which starts next weekend, and a host of domestic football cup competitions. beIN subscribers in MENA do not need to miss a minute of the action.”
A full round of matches take place over the rest of the weekend, with Real Madrid starting their new campaign on Saturday at Athletic Club, and champions Barcelona travelling to Getafe 24 hours later.
Both matches kick off at 22:30 MECCA and will be broadcast with Arabic and English commentary.
In England, Chelsea versus Liverpool is the clash of the weekend with Mauricio Pochettino’s return to the Premier League beginning at home on Sunday against a Jurgen Klopp side looking for much improvement after last season’s disappointment.
Studio coverage starts an hour ahead of a 18:30 MECCA kick-off. And in Ligue 1, the Luis Enrique era at PSG starts at home to Lorient on Saturday at 22:00 MECCA, while last season’s French runners-up Lens travel to Brest for a 14:00 MECCA kick off. Both matches will be shown live on beIN SPORTS with Arabic and English commentary.
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