Complete live coverage of the Group Stage kicks off Tuesday, Sept. 16 across ESPN platforms

The UEFA Champions League returns to ESPN next week Tuesday, September 16 and Wednesday, September 17 at 2:30 p.m. ET with exclusive Spanish-language telecast of eight matches on ESPN Deportes TV, ESPN Deportes+ and WatchESPN. The live UEFA Champions League action will include the Real Madrid season-debut against FC Basel 1893 on Tues. followed by Bayern Munchen vs. Manchester City on Wed. ESPN3 will carry ten addition live matches at the same times.

Highlights of the 2014-2015 UEFA Champions League coverage across all ESPN platforms:

ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes+ & ESPN3

• 62 Exclusive matches – group stage and knockout round – on ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes+, ESPN’ Spanish-language broadband destination, and WatchESPN via computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices. ESPN3 will carry 60 additional live matches in English throughout the group stage.
• ESPN Deportes’ UEFA Champions League commentary will be led by ESPN’s soccer voice Fernando Palomo with analysis by Tato Noriega and Ricardo Ortiz alongside soccer legend Mario Kempes. Martin Ainstein will join the team reporting from the sidelines.
• The Spanish-language network’s coverage will be complemented by news, analysis and highlights largely by Fuera de Juego and Sportscenterand across all studio programming pre and post matches. On match dates, coverage will begin with La Previa UEFA Champions League, a pre-show leading into the matches.

ESPN Deportes Radio

• ESPN Deportes Radio will present coverage of the entire tournament with live broadcasts on all match days throughout the group stage, knockout phase and final, including pre and post analysis.
• Jorge Ramos, Hernan Pereyra, Kenneth Garay, Diego Cora and Giovanni Scavia will lead the commentary and analysis.

ESPN Digital Platforms

ESPN FC’s multi-platform global football website and app will provide comprehensive worldwide coverage of this season’s UEFA Champions League, including the all-time best Champions League winners leading into the kickoff of the 2014-15 group stage on September 16, as voted upon by fans on social platforms via #UltimateUCL to @ESPNFC, @SportsCenter and others.  At the conclusion of the all-time tournament, ESPN FC’s Gabriele Marcotti will announce the all-time Champions League champ.  In addition to group-by-group and overall previews and predictions, breakout players, matches to watch, five big questions and more, ESPN FC’s roster of writers and analysts will cover the biggest storylines and clubs in the league.

The start of Champions League comes on the heels of global audience growth for ESPNFC.com and the ESPN FC app.  In the first two weeks of the season, beginning on August 16, ESPNFC.com across platforms averaged 1.8 million daily unique visitors, up 8 percent compared to the same time period the previous year.  Additionally, the ESPN FC app logged tremendous usage and engagement growth across metrics, including an average of 2.3 million daily page views (up 280 percent), 40,000 daily video starts (up 11,197 percent) and 2.2 million minutes per day (up 299 percent).

ESPNDeportes.com, the Spanish-language online sports destination, will also present up-to-the minute news and analysis. Coverage includes previews, predictions, power rankings and fan interaction with the Champions League’s Best in which users vote for the best team ever in the UEFA Champions League. On match day, ESPNDeportes.com will present pre- and post-match video analysis with the networks soccer experts, full match highlights of select games, rapid reaction and post-game analysis from reporters onsite (Madrid and Barcelona). The site will also feature goal in progress from select matches.

2014-2015 season-opening week of UEFA Champions League on ESPN:

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