ITV to screen England’s opening match with France as tickets go on sale for next summer

England’s opening group game of Euro 2012 against France on June 11 will be screened on ITV, it was announced yesterday.

ITV will also show England’s final group game against Ukraine on June 19 while the BBC will show the match against Sweden on June 15, both semi-finals and have first pick of the quarter-finals.

Both broadcasters will screen the final – the tournament is not being screened on satellite or cable television as it remains a ‘listed event’ in Britain reserved for free-to-air TV.

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ITV will also show two of the Republic of Ireland’s group games, against Croatia on June 10 and Spain on June 14. The BBC will show the Republic’s final group match against Italy on June 18.

Philip Bernie, BBC head of TV sport, said: “We are very happy with the live matches on BBC One, as they give us a strong climax to the event, with both semi-finals, as well as England’s quarter-final if they progress.”

ITV’s controller of sport Niall Sloane said: “I’m delighted that ITV has secured an outstanding selection of games through the tournament, which includes England’s opening game against France as well as a potential peak time group decider against hosts Ukraine.

“ITV1 will also be the home of some terrific clashes between the top teams in Europe including Spain v Ireland, Spain v Italy, Portugal v Holland and Ireland v Croatia.”

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Tickets for Euro 2012 went on sale yesterday but England and Ireland fans face a two-month wait before they will know if they have been successful.

The tickets went on sale on uefa.com but are not a first-come, first-served basis and the application window will remain open until the end of February.

Tickets for both England and the Republic are restricted to their official fans groups, with special log-ins being supplied by their football associations.

In the event of the matches, taking place in Poland and Ukraine this summer, being over-subscribed then ballots will be held with the most loyal fans getting preference.

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England fans will also struggle to buy tickets allocated for France and Ukraine fans, as they are only available to nationals or residents of those countries. England fans may try to buy tickets allocated to Sweden however, as according to the Swedish fans’ portal on uefa.com no such restrictions apply.

There will be 8,300 tickets for England fans in Donetsk against France on June 11 and Ukraine on June 19, and 11,000 tickets for the Sweden game in Kiev on June 15.