Fans of Spanish football should buckle up for another wild ride and watch live online this weekend as Spain’s glamorous top division , La Liga, opens its 2015-2016 season with a full slate of matches — including league powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid in action in separate games Sunday — many of them available in streaming online video.
The exclusive rights holder for Spain’s La Liga in the United States is the Qatar-based international sports network beIn Sports. To find out how to watch the featured matches from the opening weekend of the Spanish football top division streaming live online, see the information at the bottom of this article.
Defending La Liga champion Barcelona FC will see action at San Mamés Stadium, home of Athletic Bilbao, in Bilbao — capital of Biscay Province, the center of Spain’s autonomous Basque Country. The Sunday match will actually be the third in a row between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, after the Athletic Club scored a shocking 5-1 , two-match aggregate victory over the champions in the Spanish Super Cup last week.
While Barcelona will be seeking revenge against the Basque Country upstarts, they’ll have to do it without Gerard Pique, who was hit with a four-game ban after insulting an assistant referee in the Super Cup second leg, telling the official, “I s**t on your whore mother,” according to the referee’s report.
Pique flatly denied insulting the match official , but apologized for his “attitude” in speaking to the assistant ref, an attitude which he called “the wrong one.”
The Barcelona vs. Athletic Bilbao match is set for Sunday, August 23, at 6:30 p.m. Central European Summer Time — that’s 12:30 p.m. United States Eastern Daylight Time, 9:30 a.m. Pacific.
The Barcelona 2015-2106 La Liga opener will be followed immediately by arch-rival Real Madrid taking the pitch against newly-promoted side Sporting Gijon, on the Sporting home ground of El Milonon Stadium. That match kicks off at 8:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, 2:30 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time and 11:30 a.m. Pacific.
Atletico de Madrid hosts Las Palmas on Saturday as the 2013-2014 La Liga champs — the only team other than Real Madrid or Barcelona to win La Liga in the last 11 years — open their new campaign at 8:30 p.m. local time, 2:30 Eastern, 11:30 a.m. Pacific on August 22.
So how can fans watch the opening weekend of Spain’s La Liga live online? Subscribers to the international sports TV network beIn Sports can find a live stream of all available La Liga matches, including the separate contests featuring Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid, at this link . Fans who do not receive beIn Sports on cable or satellite can watch the network live online through the Sling TV International Sports package, which includes beIn Sports and costs $10 per month. But the first month is free, and the subscription can be cancelled at any time. To access the Sling TV free live sports offer, visit this link.
[Image: David Ramos/Getty Images]