Throng

England's next qualifying match could be streamed exclusively on the internet suggest reports.

Oh dear.

Imagine the glee when fans, stood at a big projected screen in a pub realise that John Terry isn't nonchalently standing near a hovering beach ball taunting the opposition, but rather, the landlord's Apple Mac is 'having a think'.

Imagine the pained yowls of The Blue Screen Of Death appearing at some pivotal moment or that irritating buffering that goes on with live feed as fans stagger around looking for a piece of internet to kick.

After the 5-1 demolition of Croatia, England are assured qualification, which is nice. However, the downside of this is that the next game against Ukraine is effectively dead skin.

Football. A simple game over analysed by men more obsessed and needy than smack heads. International football games that involve England grip the nation with every kick whilst simulataneously making everyone involved tired and cranky.

So with that, England take on Holland on Wednesday which will be shown on ITV1 at 7.30pm. Invariably, soccer fans (I only said that to wind you up, don't worry) will predict a bore-fest and then, 3 seconds before kick-off, get a rush of excitement and fall straight into the trap of thinking that this might just be the match when everything comes together.

As this particular game is a friendly, it inevitably won't.

Five’s season of live football continues as Georgia play host to the Republic of Ireland in the first European qualifying round for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The action is hosted by Colin Murray. Kick-off is at 17.00.

Having failed to qualify for the last World Cup and this year’s European Championships, the Republic of Ireland will be looking for a comfortable passage into the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This away clash against Georgia marks the beginning of their qualifying campaign in Group 8, where they are also joined by world champions Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Montenegro. With the current situation in Georgia still fragile, FIFA have ruled that this tie will take place at a neutral venue.

Five’s summer of live football continues this week with coverage from the second qualifying round of the 2008 UEFA Cup. Colin Murray presents all the action as Man City head to Denmark to face FC Midtjylland, and Aston Villa welcome Iceland’s FH Hafnarfjordur to Villa Park. As usual, commentary will be provided by Tony Jones and Dave Woods.

The weight of expectation will once again be on Manchester City as they warm up for another tough season in the Premier League. New manager Mark Hughes, recruited from Blackburn, will be hoping to stamp his influence on the team and satisfy controversial club owner Thaksin Shinawatra, who unceremoniously sacked former manager Sven- Goran Erikson at the end of last season.

Five’s summer of live football continues as Manchester City welcome Italian giants AC Milan to the City of Manchester Stadium for a preseason friendly. The action is hosted by Colin Murray, while Tony Jones provides the commentary. Kick-off is at 17.15.

The weight of expectation will once again be on Manchester City as they warm up for another tough season in the Premier League. New manager Mark Hughes, recruited from Blackburn, will be hoping to stamp his influence on the team and satisfy controversial club owner Thaksin Shinawatra, who unceremoniously sacked former manager Sven- Goran Erikson at the end of last season.

Five presents more live football action with coverage of this pre-season friendly. Manchester City prepare for another testing season in the Premier League with a trip to the HSH Nordbank Arena in Germany to take on Hamburg SV. Presented by Colin Murray with commentary from Tony Jones. Kick-off is at 16.00.

The weight of expectation will once again be on Manchester City as they warm up for another tough season in the Premiership. New manager Mark Hughes, recruited from Blackburn, will be hoping to stamp his influence on the team and satisfy club owner Thaksin Shinawatra, who unceremoniously sacked his predecessor, Sven- Goran Erikson, at the end of last season.

Five presents more live football action with coverage of this pre-season friendly. Liverpool limber up for another testing season in the Premier League with a trip to the Wisla Stadium in Poland to take on Wisla Kraków. Presented by Colin Murray with commentary from Dave Woods.

The European Championships are still fresh in the memory, but another season of football is just around the corner. Liverpool’s preparations involve a pre-season tour of Europe, including this match against Wisla Kraków.

Five has signed an exclusive three-year deal with UEFA for the 2009-12 UEFA Cup.

Under the terms of the deal, which begins in the 2009-2010 season, Five will have the first pick of matches in each round thereby bringing the very best games of the tournament to viewers on a free-to-air basis. Five will also have exclusive rights to the UEFA Cup Final. In total the deal will guarantee 15 games a year from 2009-10 to 2011-12.

For the first time, TV rights for the tournament from the Group Stage onwards have been sold collectively rather than by the individual clubs involved. Five negotiated the agreement with sports marketing agency T.E.A.M, who are distributing the TV rights on behalf of UEFA.