Eleven Sports will begin its journey into broadcasting major European football this weekend as the online streaming website prepares to show its first batch of La Liga and Serie A fixtures.
Previously dominated by BT Sport and Sky, the new kid on the block snatched the rights to top flight action in both Italy and Spain to give themselves sole access to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Their opening weekend of action will see the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan all play across their two channels with action scheduled from Friday all the way through to Monday.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus debut will be shown live and free of charge on Facebook. Following his £100million summer transfer from Real Madrid, Ronaldo should make his first league outing for the reigning champions against Chievo at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi in Verona on Saturday.
Eleven Sports has pledged to show at least one match per week from both Serie A and La Liga on their UK Facebook page as part of an 'innovative partnership' with the social media platform.
However, they will be hoping their first run at football runs a bit smoother than the coverage of last weekend's USPGA Championship, which most definitely received negative reviews.
Just two days before action got underway at Bellerive in Missouri, there was zero advertising of golf's fourth major on their website home page or clear instructions on how to watch it.
They snapped up the TV rights for the USPGA after Sky Sports refused to pay the price quoted and the BBC decided against a repeat of their poorly-received, last-minute broadcast in 2017.
Things then got even worse for the broadcaster once play began. Angry fans tore into Eleven Sports on social media after technical problems left them unable to watch the early stages of the competition.
Rounds one and two were shown on Facebook but fans were then required to sign up for a free seven-day trial to their online subscription service if they wanted to watch the pivotal weekend action.
The Facebook coverage was branded 'absolutely terrible' by users though as some struggled to establish a good connection, while there was also high-pitched noise and pictures of commentators in the US preparing for their broadcast unaware they were live on air.
When full television coverage began it was little better, with a strange mix of occasional commentary by their own team mixed with the host broadcaster in the US. There were more technical problems too, with smart TVs not being able to pick up the stream.
Some viewers even missed eventual champion Brooks Koepka's decisive putt as he went on to win the final major of the year. The desktop service cut out as the American was poised to finish his round on the 18th green.
The slew of angry messages led to Eleven Sports posting an apology on Twitter, which read: 'Our sincerest apologies for the issues we are encountering with the feed from the US. We are working to resolve them as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.'
Eleven Sports currently holds no other TV rights for golf but will broadcast both La Liga and Serie A football in the new season. They will charge customers £5.99 a month for the channel or an annual pass of £49.99, if paid by August 31. From that date the price will rise by £10.
Ahead of their La Liga and Serie A debut, Sportsmail takes a long at just who Eleven Sports is, what they will be showing and how fans can tune into the action.
What is it?
Eleven Sports is a global TV company that boasts 30,000 hours of live sport, watched by 17million paying subscribers across three continents.
It is owned by Andrea Radrizzani, the majority owner of Championship side Leeds, but run by Marc Watson, the man who secured BT Sport the rights to the Champions League.
The broadcaster already provides live coverage in Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States. The UK, Ireland and Portugal are where they are expanding to next.
They launched in the UK on August 9, with the nightmare coverage of the USPGA Championship its first venture into the British market.
What will they be showing?
One of their distinctive features is that their packages contain both second (or even third) tier domestic sports — such as Ultimate Frisbee in the US — with top-level foreign football.
In the UK, the company has secured the rights to show action from the UFC, NBA, La Liga and Serie A.
They will also be the exclusive broadcasters in the UK for the Chinese Super League, Dutch Eredivisie and Swedish Allsvenskan.
In other countries they already show a wide variety of sport, such as the FA Cup, Speedway, Cage Warriors, the Singapore Premier League and Bundesliga.
How much have they paid for rights to beat Sky and BT?
While official figures are hard to find, La Liga rejected an offer of under £18m a year from Sky for their rights back in April so you can expect a figure roughly around that.
How much does it cost?
Eleven Sports released their UK pricing list earlier this month and will charge customers £5.99 a month for the channel. They also have an annual pass available for a one-off payment as well, which will cost £49.99 until August 31 and £59.99 after that date.
How can you watch it?
UK customers can sign up and watch content here. Fans are able to watch coverage on their website or their app (for both iOS and Android).
How will games be covered – pundits, analysis etc?
Eleven Sports' own coverage of the USPGA was very limited with host Dominik Holyer and former Ryder Cup winner Jamie Donaldson anchoring the coverage from a tiny studio before they tapped into the host broadcaster for live action and commentary.
Very few details have emerged over what the set-up will be for their football matches.