The football calendar has taken such a battering this year that the new Ligue 1 season is under way before its reigning champions, Paris Saint-Germain, have even completed their full 2019/20 campaign - Sunday being when you can watch a PSG vs Bayern live stream and see the Champions League crown its next winner. After that, the Parisians will redirect their attention back to domestic matters and Ligue 1, where the first fixture is Bordeaux vs Nantes on Friday, August 21. Here's how to get a Ligue 1 live stream and watch French football online from anywhere today.
The 2020/21 Ligue 1 season starts in France on Friday, August 21 with matches initially set to be played in front of up to 5,000 fans and face masks expected to be compulsory. Full details of how to watch Ligue 1 online and on TV are below - or bag an early goal by saving up to 50% on our No. 1 reviewed VPN (opens in new tab) to ensure you get your usual French football live stream from all over the world.
It's an exciting prospect, too, with French football enjoying something of a renaissance right now. The national team are the World Cup holders, PSG are Champions League finalists, and against the odds Lyon made it to the semi-finals of the same competition - eliminating Man City and Juventus along the way.
That's the same Lyon that only managed to finish seventh in the Ligue 1 table last season - not even good enough to qualify for the Europa League - so any lingering notions you have about it being a farmers league should be suitably quashed. These successes might not surprise regular viewers of Ligue 1, but if you're looking to get into French football, now's as good a time as any.
By way of background, the 2019/20 season was suspended in March and cancelled in April due Covid-19, with each team still having at least 10 games left to play. PSG were crowned champions - which would have almost certainly happened regardless. More controversially, the two bottom clubs, Toulouse and Amiens, were relegated, then saved by the Council of the State - and then then relegated again. Lorient and Lens take their place in Ligue 1 this year.
And if you thought France's new season would mean an end to such chaos, you'd be mistaken. Marseille vs Saint-Etienne was supposed to play the opening match, but that's been postponed because of four positive coronavirus tests in the Marseille camp. Patrick Vieira's Nice have also decided to play their first match, against Lens, behind closed doors - despite French stadiums being allowed to accommodate 5,000 fans. More drama is sure to follow, so read on and follow our guide for all the ways to watch a Ligue 1 live stream right now.
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How to watch Ligue 1 football from outside your country
If you're abroad and can't bear to miss out on Ligue 1 action, don't worry. While you may initially encounter a problem watching your usual domestic coverage in the form of geo-blocking, there's an easy solution to this common annoyance.
It's called a VPN and it's a clever bit of software that relocates your device back to your country of origin - thereby allowing you to regain access to the services you normally use (and almost certainly pay for) back home.
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