By Jonathan Easton

ITV has agreed a broadcast rights deal with the FA to carry the women’s national team’s matches.

The pubcaster will carry England Women’s Senior team’s tournament qualifiers and friendlies, starting from the current season and running up to and including 2024/25. Matches will be broadcast live and free to air on ITV, ITV4 and ITV Hub.

The first match to be broadcast as a part of this deal is England’s opening FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying match against North Macedonia on September 17.

ITV director of Sport, Niall Sloane said: “This is an exciting moment to announce this deal with England Women about to start their qualifying campaign for the 2023 World Cup and at the outset of a season which will build towards England hosting the Women’s Euros next summer.  We’re delighted to be able to bring viewers the very best coverage of the action and the stories, live and free to air, over the coming years.”

FA Commercial & Marketing Director, Kathryn Swarbrick, said: “We’re delighted to announce this new agreement which makes ITV the home of England Football. This partnership is critical for The FA not only to drive the reach and profile of the Women’s senior team, but also to drive girls participation. We know when girls see elite women’s football in action it inspires them, and makes them believe football is a sport for them.”

The announcement comes after the opening weekend of the new FA Women’s Super League season, which was broadcast on Sky Sports for the first time. The landmark three-year broadcast rights deal, agreed earlier this year, is believed to be valued at around £8 million per year and is the largest broadcast agreement of any professional women’s football league in the world.