Premier League highlights will remain free-to-air for audiences on the BBC after a deal to show them for the next four years was agreed.

The BBC’s deal with the Premier League ensures that the iconic Match Of The Day, which celebrates its 60th Anniversary in August next year, will remain a staple of Saturday night up to and including the 2028/29 season.

The deal also includes MOTD2 and Football Focus plus a significant increase in the amount of digital content that can be used across BBC Sport platforms.

Over half of the Premier League’s UK TV reach is delivered by the BBC alone with all Premier League related programming reaching nearly 30m, with 90m requests for Premier League content on BBC iPlayer. The audience for the Match of the Day Saturday show this season is averaging 4m on BBC One and iPlayer.

Tim Davie, BBC Director-General, says: “This is great news for football fans. The BBC and the Premier League are two of the UK’s most admired global brands and I’m delighted that our successful partnership will continue. Together, we will ensure that top flight football and the very best coverage continues to be available to all UK audiences.”

Barbara Slater, Director, BBC Sport, says: “Match Of The Day remains enduringly popular with audiences and this new agreement with the Premier League is brilliant news for football fans all over the UK. For almost 60 years it has been the UK’s most discussed football programme, delivering a complete digest of the weekend’s action and this enhanced deal with more digital content means we can tell the story of the Premier League every day across BBC Sport platforms.”