YouTube continues to grow in popularity, especially the go-to place platform for football vloggers looking to share their love for football with millions of followers and fans. However, finding the ideal platform to follow your club's updates on YouTube is often a real challenge, so we are here to help in this review of the best football YouTube channels.
There is an abundance of football content available on YouTube. From basic videos of fans sharing their passion for the game, to professional productions and live broadcasts of games and leagues here in the UK and all around the world. So here are the…
Best football YouTube channels
Sky Sports
The Sky brand is synonymous in the UK for its coverage of the Premier League. Sky is the main broadcast partner of England's flagship football competition and has been for more than 30 years. However, there is a lot more to their coverage given that they also hold the rights for the Football League, EFL Cup, Women's Super League, Scottish Premiership and German football.
In previous years, Sky hosted La Liga as well as MLS but losing those rights has seen Sky's football coverage diversify, with much of it being available online.
Their offerings on YouTube include dedicated Premier League coverage including highlights, mini-documentaries and analysis. Beyond that, there is EFL and SPFL coverage as well as live action from the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. All of this is offered across different brands, ‘Sky Sports Premier League' and ‘Sky Sports Football'.
Copa 90 Stories
The Copa brand has established itself as an authoritative and reliable channel when it comes to football and fan culture in different locations. They do this by capturing a narrative and storytelling with authenticity, respect and passion.
Copa 90 isn't about what is trendy, its basis is telling the stories of what football means to the people who matter most, the supporters. They have covered derbies across the world, their most famous documentary telling the huge story of the Copa Libertadores final between Boca Juniors and River Plate.
Their heart-warming ‘once in a lifetime' series followed the likes of Trabzonspor, Freiburg and Real Betis in their respective quests for domestic silverware, battling amongst the big boys and perennial winners. These are underdog stories, not necessarily with a happy ending in terms of winning but the glory remains in some ways.
The Copa90 channel is highly recommended.
Away Days
This channel is produced and hosted by Ellis Platten, a Leeds fan from Norfolk who has amassed 334,000 subscribers since he began his venture in 2014. Away Days tells the story of matchday experiences near and far, as well as the search for vintage football shirts and some other quirky football stories.
There is an element of controversy with these types of ‘vloggers' who aren't universally popular at football grounds as they are talking into phones and cameras, obviously filming themselves instead of being there to support the team. There is an audience for this type of content given how popular they are on YouTube and again it plays into that distinction of how people, especially youngsters, want to consume their football in different ways.
Platten has a self-deprecating style, he doesn't take himself and the channel too seriously but he has a grounded approach, often avoiding the sensationalism and over-the-top manner that some YouTubers prefer.
EA Sports FC
EA Sports FIFA YouTube channel has gained traction over the years to gain a massive following on the world's largest video-sharing platform. With more than 834 million views since it was established in 2009, the EA Sports FC channel on YouTube is the place to be if you love football gaming videos. A great alternative to EA Sports FC is EA Sports FC pro, a related channel that is fast gaining momentum with more than half a million followers.
Footy Adventures
This channel from Sam North has similar elements to Away Days but in more of a documentary style. North focuses on Scottish Football, where he is based, despite being an Englishman. He has also featured content and stories about the game in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, attempting to shine a light on lesser-known clubs down the football pyramid. He has also ventured abroad to some far-flung places to report on their football landscape, such as Mexico, Singapore and Gibraltar.
Bleacher Report
The Bleacher Report YouTube channel has its unique way of telling football stories, especially using animations. Since it was established, the channel now boasts more than 4 million followers.
The channel features Sports Highlights, feature stories and news. With this, Bleacher Report's YouTube channel takes football fandom to the next level, making sports culture even more vibrant. The fact that Bleacher Report tackles football matters from a neutral standpoint makes it particularly appealing to millions of fans who love the beautiful game.
FIFA TV
FIFA is football and the converse is also true. FIFA TV YouTube channel boasts massive numbers of subscribers, now standing at more than 21 million.
While the channel primarily focuses on FIFA matches and select federation events, it is always worthwhile to follow the channel run by the world football governing body. FIFA TV channel was created on 6 September 2006 and has since amassed more than 6 billion views.
Podcasts, fan media and club content on football YouTube
Anyone familiar with YouTube will have at least heard of one type of podcast that is available on the platform.
These range from the likes of Gary Neville's Overlap to Football Daily from BBC Sounds and many others which are professional productions with significant sponsorship money behind them.
These would be considered as mainstream but there is a crossover with some fan media content due to their sheer number of subscribers and revenue involved. Fan media can be rudimentary as well, with the genre developing from football supporters wanting a product that more accurately reflected their perspective, views and what they were talking about.
Fans of different clubs have developed various successful content models which work for their respective fan bases, whilst some go for a sensationalist approach to bring in ‘rage-clicks' and often, fans of opposing clubs come to have a look and a chuckle at what is unfolding.
An often-overlooked source of football content is the official channels of football clubs, from the elite down through the leagues.
Premier League clubs with significant resources can afford to dedicate a lot of personnel and funding to their content which will have bespoke programmes as well as match highlights and different packages based around a matchday. This model will be replicated to a lesser extent for many clubs in different leagues whilst there will be some quirky and innovative content the further down the leagues you go, particularly in England with the likes of Hashtag FC and Bunch of Amateurs.
All of the above shows the variation and depth of football content that is available on YouTube, in addition to the traditional broadcasters on television.
TV no longer has a monopoly on football coverage and rights, like in previous years, with Amazon already bringing streaming services to the Premier League in a situation that is very likely to evolve further soon.