Excitement builds for one of the most anticipated LALIGA seasons in recent memory, with new stars set to light up Spain’s top flight. Premier Sports to show 340+ matches per season, while Disney+ to exclusively stream weekly Saturday night fixtures. Full talent line-up revealed for Matchday 1 on LALIGA’s UK&I broadcast partners, with familiar names bringing all the action to life.
Thursday 14th August 2025: This Friday night, La Liga is back. The league with the biggest names and the biggest games returns with five consecutive nights of Spanish football at its finest, ushering in a new broadcast era bringing fans in the UK and Ireland closer than ever to LALIGA.
Premier Sports, La Liga’s primary broadcaster, will show over 340 live matches across the season, while Disney+ will now exclusively stream the primetime Saturday night fixture (8pm or 8:30pm) every week, a first-of-its-kind move set to reach new audiences of all ages.
The 2025/26 La Liga season promises to be one of the most anticipated in years. Reigning champions Barcelona set out looking to become the first back-to-back La Liga winners since 2019 but will have to fend off the challenge of Xabi Alonso’s revamped Real Madrid and a retooled, ever-competitive Atlético de Madrid to do so.
For UK viewers, the growing contingent of British stars will be a major draw, with Marcus Rashford and Trent Alexander-Arnold joining international teammates Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher among the title contenders.
This weekend’s action will be brought to fans by top Spanish-football experts on La Liga UK and Ireland broadcasters, such as Emma Dodds, Guillem Balague and Terry Gibson (Premier Sports), Rob Palmer and Stewart Robson (Disney+) and familiar voices via La Liga TV’s world-feed commentary, including Duncan Bishop, Graham Hunter, Bruno Bergareche, Jofre Mateu, Pete Jenson, Albert Ferrer, Gaizka Mendieta and Phil Kitromilides. See full talent line-up below.
Here are just a few of the key developing narratives UK audiences will be keen to keep a close eye on:
Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher were two of LALIGA’s standout performers last season, with the England duo starring either side of the Atletico/Real Madrid divide. This season, homegrown stars of England’s greatest club rivalry, Liverpool and Manchester United, swap the Northeast of England for El Clasico as Marcus Rashford and Trent Alexander-Arnold prepare to go head-to-head in world football’s biggest fixture.
And they’re not the only Englishmen making the move to La Liga. Tyryhs Dolan, a key man for Blackburn Rovers over the past five seasons, has moved to RCD Espanyol, while in Segunda ex-Arsenal man Charlie Patino will be looking to gain promotion with historic icons RC Deportivo.
It’s not just in attack champions Barcelona have reinforced. Joining Marcus Rashford at Spotify Camp Nou is a goalkeeper considered one of the best in the top-flight last season despite his young age. 24-year-old Joan Garcia moved to Barca from neighbours Espanyol earlier this summer and is expected to be Hansi Flick’s first-choice goalkeeper. After standing out for a side that competed to secure safety last season and racking up more saves than any other goalkeeper in the league it will be fascinating to see him slot into a team chasing back-to-back league titles.
Diego Simeone enters his 13th full season at Atleti with a squad overhaul that has seen new blood in a bid to refresh the squad. Out went players such as Angel Correa, Reinildo, Rodrigo De Paul, Axel Witsel and Cesar Azpilicueta. In come star youngsters like Alex Baena, Johnny Cardoso, Thiago Almada, Matteo Ruggeri and Marc Pubill, with Simeone undertaking the exciting assignment to put together a new, fresh version of Atletico Madrid.
Very few players in world football have received the unanimous love and admiration Cazorla has earned throughout his career, both in Spain and England. Hit by a serious injury that required several surgeries, the former Spain international has managed to bounce back time and time again, defying medical opinions that he may never walk again. In 2023, he returned to his boyhood club, aiming to lead Real Oviedo to a top-flight return for the first time since the turn of the century. Two years on, Cazorla is set to play a key role again in La Liga at the age of 40.
After missing out on the league title last season, Los Blancos parted ways with club legend Carlo Ancelotti, who has been succeeded by former player Xabi Alonso. Having won a league title (2011/12) and a UEFA Champions League trophy (2013/14) with Real Madrid, among other silverware, the 43-year-old tactician will now aim to replicate this success as a coach with fellow ex-Liverpool star, Trent Alexander-Arnold, as part of his squad. Whether the duo can help the team bounce back and return to Spanish football’s pinnacle will be gripping viewing this season.
Despite taking charge of Valencia with the team sitting bottom of the table with just 12 points from 18 games back in December, ex-Huddersfield Town and West Bromwich Albion coach Carlos Corberan managed to turn their season around, with Los Che even joining the race for a European spot in the last stretch of the 2024/25 campaign. Valencia may have missed out after finishing 12th, but Corberan has demonstrated that he has what it takes to inspire his side to a strong run that could lead to European qualification this season.
La Liga football is a must-watch for football fans. Alongside its clubs’ extraordinary capacity to develop world-class talents such as Lamine Yamal, a model which laid the foundations for Spain’s reigning Euro 2024 and Olympic Gold-winning sides, La Liga continues to attract the top stars in world football, be they the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Bellingham, Julian Alvarez or new faces such as Alexander-Arnold and Rashford this summer. Four of the current five most valuable players in the world according to Transfermarkt currently ply their trade in LALIGA, while no player has won the Ballon d’Or in the last two decades without also having played in Spain. La Liga is where stars come to win, and the numbers speak for themselves: five different Spanish clubs have won 21 of the last 39 European trophies, more than all other leagues combined.
With La Liga now available on Premier Sports and Disney+ each week, here are full details of the opening weekend’s slate of fixtures, the talent on each broadcast and some standout storylines you just can’t miss as Spanish football returns to our screens.
LALIGA EA SPORTS · MATCHDAY 1
Kick-off times BST (London/Dublin)
Friday 15th August
Saturday 16th August
Sunday 17th August
Monday 18th August
Tuesday 19th August
Key Storylines in Matchday 1: