For the first time ever, SABC Sports audiences will view the live broadcasts of both the Women’s and the Men’s Community Shield matches live on SABC 3. SABC Sport will broadcast the double-header on Saturday.
The Women’s Community Shield match will see the 2019/2020 Women’s Super League champions, Chelsea FC, go up against the 2019/2020 FA Cup Women’s champions Manchester City FC at Wembley Stadium.
This match will be the precursor to SABC Sport’s coverage of the Women’s FA Cup semifinals and finals in late September and November.
The FA Community Shield doubleheader will also be streamed live via the SABC Sport’s livestream portal sabcsportonline.co.za in a quest to continually enhance the audience viewing experience.
The portal will go live on Saturday, 29 August and will carry highlights content from the Men’s FA Cup final, the build-up to the Women’s Chelsea FC vs Manchester City FC match at 13h00, and the match kick-off at 13h30.
It will be followed by the Men’s Arsenal FC vs Liverpool FC match build-up at 17h00, and kick-off at 17h30, including the trophy presentation at the end of the match.
SABC Sport General Manager, Gary Rathbone says, “Following the successful broadcast of the FA Cup final in July, SABC Sport is proud to showcase the very best of Women’s football and balancing the gender playing field by offering our audiences a world-class football feast this coming Saturday. SABC Sport continues to demonstrate its unswerving commitment to reengineering itself into a sports broadcaster for the future with the SABC Sport livestreaming portal.”
Rathbone adds that “SABC Sport will continue to explore new and diverse sporting content to foster engagement from its existing audience base and appeal to new football-loving fans. Since the introduction of the FA Cup Matches on SABC 3, the overall audience performance has increased, setting new standards in providing universal access and reaching audiences across all corners of the country. This has been evident in an audience growth of 189% for the final played between Arsenal and Chelsea and an overall channel growth of 76%. SABC Sports is committed to prioritising Women’s sport on all our platforms.”
