Skip to main content

Ferdinand testimonial vs Sevilla to be televised

The showpiece game between Manchester United and Sevilla at Old Trafford on August 9 - two days before the Red Devils face Wigan Athletic in the FA Community Shield - will be available to watch in 170 countries.

The Premier League champions granted their centre-half a testimonial as a tribute to his 12 years at Old Trafford, making 432 appearances and scoring eight times since joining from Leeds United.

Ferdinand said: "Manchester United is a unique club with fans in every corner of the globe so I am delighted that my testimonial is going to be so widely available to all of the club’s supporters in so many countries.

"It is going to be a fantastic and fun evening and there will be famous sporting faces and celebrities popping up all over the place, so it should be an incredible night.”

Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “We are delighted to be associated with a huge star like Rio in all the different ways he is featuring on BT Sport and we are thrilled that his testimonial is going to be live on BT Sport.

“To mark this special occasion, we’ve put together a groundbreaking plan to help make this game available to millions of fans across the globe, and it is something of a technology first for a game to be streamed live on this scale.”

BT Sport will show 38 exclusively live football matches from the Barclays Premier League, including 18 of the ‘top picks’ from August 2013 for three seasons. The channels will also show live FA Cup, UEFA Europa League and Scottish Premier League matches, as well as top tier live football from Germany, Italy, France, Brazil, Australia and the USA, plus 30 live matches from the Football Conference and action from the FA Women’s Super League.

Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.