The FA Cup takes centre stage this weekend (16 May) as seven-time winners Manchester City meet eight-time winners Chelsea in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Host broadcaster TNT Sports will deliver both the World Feed and unilateral coverage for its subscribers that combines tradition, entertainment, nostalgia and world-class analysis across a day-long broadcast.
Coverage will build throughout the day, right up to the post-match celebrations. Across broadcast, digital and social platforms, fans will be brought closer to the occasion wherever they are watching from whatever device they are following on.
Talking to SVG Europe, Scott Young, EVP at WBD Sports Europe, comments on the broadcaster’s aim in providing fans with a full day of coverage: “When we looked at the first acquisition of [these rights] we asked “what does the FA Cup mean to football fans, particularly in the UK?” and one of the first pieces we really dug into was the nostalgia of the FA Cup; that concept about being with family and friends around the television early in the morning as the buildup went through that breakfast show into brunch, and then into lunch and then kickoff.
“One of the early conversations we had with the FA was, “can we move the kickoff back to three o’clock?”, that nostalgic kickoff time that hadn’t been around in recent matches. And again, that’s leaning into the history of the FA Cup and just that flashpoint that you get when you talk to people who have grown up in this country, and they’re football fans for life, and what the FA Cup means to them. It’s quite different than other narratives around football in this country.”
That concept of bringing back the nostalgia of the FA Cup final led straight to making the broadcast an all-day event, says Young: “[We thought] why shouldn’t we start at nine o’clock in the morning with a big family affair of our on air team and make a show that feels a little bit different as the day goes on, not exactly the same programme from start to finish, but lots of different styles of content around the narrative of football, not just only about those two teams.
“We have a real opportunity from nine o’clock particularly just to talk about its FA Cup Finals Day, which is a fantastic day in the football season and it’s been a phenomenal year. We’ve broadcast 194 hours of FA Cup content in the men’s competition this year. Depending on how long this match goes, we might actually get to over 200. So it’s been a phenomenal journey since round one and we really want to bring that nostalgia back into the coverage.”
Successful first season
This weekend will mark the end of the broadcaster’s first season as host broadcaster for the FA Cup, which it has approached from day one with gusto.
Young elaborates: “We started with a very big appetite for the FA Cup. Our commitment very early on was to do as much as possible, and I have to admit, I saw the whites of a few eyes in this place when we were talking about what we’re going to try and take on. This is also with our free to air partner, the BBC, that have been along with us for the journey since the beginning.
“Ww wanted to make sure we were there en masse with our football team at the very top end from round one,” continues Young. “It was fantastic to have Fletch and Ally [Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist] in the commentary team, and Laura Woods hosting in the early matches, because we didn’t want to just turn up with our traditional football team at round three; we wanted to be there from round one and go, “the FA Cup matters to TNT Sports and we’re going to give it the real treatment from day one”.”
He adds: “Our learnings have been to stay committed to the entire FA Cup story, because you never know when that Macclesfield moment is going to happen. You need to be at as many matches as possible and have the right storytellers there so when that Macclesfield moment happens, we’re there to not only capture the moment, but also the story that follows onwards.”
Epic production
TNT Sports will be based on site all day on Saturday with its technical services provider, Gravity Media. “We’ve made the decision that our teams need to be on site,” says Young. “When you’re putting this together with a team of 272 people, you need to make sure that your team are collaborating as closely as possible. There’s a lot of great in remote production and then there are moments like being all together at Wembley – and our production that starts on Wembley Way – where we need the people to collaborate together.”
TNT Sports has bought in the big guns in terms of its match director for the final, with, according to Young, “arguably we have the world’s best match director in Rob Levi who will be in the seat, who has been at the helm of making sure that not only the match coverage is going to be the best it can be, but the buildup that starts at one o’clock right through to three o’clock is all a very blended coverage”.
The host broadcast is using 28 match cameras, which is slightly above The FA’s required spec, “but it’s what we believe will capture the emotion and moment of the day, not just the match,” notes Young.
“From early in the morning and around the grounds and around the teams, we’re going to capture the action, that fan excitement from not just within Wembley, but across London, right as you then start to focus back down towards Wembley and you get to that one o’clock moment,” says Young. “So we’re using not just match cameras, but RF and remote cameras that can wander and connect with fans.
“We’re here for the fans, and we’re fans of sport for fans of sport. I think you’ll see a lot of that in the broadcast. Having teams down on the ground with remote cameras, being able to connect with fans, having reporters in and around the team and the team hotels, they start to get close. And that classic helicopter shot, starting to follow the buses as close as we can get to them; we want to get back to being able to do those big aerial moments as you start to get towards the bowl. [There will be] the usual batcams, fly cams – the specialty cameras that are usually there – all those tools and toys will be there to bring the match coverage, but particularly it’s about the storytelling team with the technology to tell the story.”
Great expectations
On how he expects the production to go on Saturday, Young says, “can I say touch wood, brilliantly?” He goes on: “I think we’ve got one of the world’s best production teams focusing on football. They are not only talented, but they’re incredibly passionate and they know their sport.
“We’ve made a big commitment to football in this business and we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on this particular day. I’ll say the nine o’clock start was almost one of the first decisions we made, and we’ve been excited about it since round one. The team has been very focused on this. I really hope it’s a great game of football; I really hope these two teams, that have fought really hard to get to the final, put on a fantastic display of what is a brilliant venue in Wembley. So like all of us, when we get to three o’clock, we’re all passengers of the story. Hopefully we’ll do a great job in telling the story and I’ve got great faith in Rob Levi, Pete Thomas our head of football, and the entire team. They’ll do a great job.”
Young is now looking ahead to the other football finals coming up in May, through to the Women’s FA Cup final which will also play out at Wembley at the very end of the month, the day after the UEFA Champions League final between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest.
Young says on the women’s game that, “we broadcast that from the very start as well; our commitment wasn’t just around the men’s”.
He continues: “We broadcast [the Women’s FA Cup] from the very first round. I believe it’s one of the first times a broadcaster has committed to broadcasting [women’s football] live from round one. So this is not just about the men’s game, it’s about the women’s game as well and we’ve got a little bit of time between the men’s and women’s finals, and obviously the women’s finals I think will benefit from another big moment of having Arsenal and PSG playing in Budapest the day before. It’s a good audience for us to just remind everybody there’s another fantastic football match on the next day, so we’ll be back at Wembley at the end of the month to do all again in the women’s version.”
Watch the 2026 FA Cup final with a full day of coverage on TNT Sports and HBO Max:
9-11am: Wake Up at Wembley with Craig Doyle and Becky Ives
A morning built around the atmosphere of Cup Final Day Coverage begins at 9:00am with a special Breakfast Show overlooking Wembley. The show will capture the warmth and anticipation unique to Cup Final morning, combining live features, behind the scenes walkabouts, fan stories and memorable moments from FA Cup history.
Food, Football and Conversation
TNT Sports presents a special edition of FA Cup Final Breakfast and later in the morning FA Cup Final Brunch centred around food, conversation and football storytelling. Hosted by Joe Cole and Ugo Monye, the duo will be joined by chef Tom Sellers and a series of high-profile guests including comedian Kevin Day and former England and Manchester City striker Ellen White.
11am-1pm: Building towards kick-off
Broadcasting live from multiple locations including team hotels, supporter hubs, and Wembley Way, the programme becomes a live hub for all the latest build-up. Joint top-scorers in this season’s competition Lyle Taylor (Chelmsford City) and Liam Atkinson (Longridge Town) will also join the show before Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole offer a deep dive into the tactical matchup taking viewers into the journeys of the two finalists and how the final will be won.
From 1pm: Match build-up
Coverage moves pitch side. Hosted by Laura Woods alongside a star-studded punditry line-up featuring Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and Joe Hart. Led by the commentary team of Darren Fletcher, Ally McCoist and Steven Gerrard, the Emirates FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Manchester City will also return to its traditional kick-off time of 3pm.
From 3pm: The FA Cup Final
Saturday’s FA Cup Final will mark the 49th match broadcast live by TNT Sports during this season’s competition, with Luton Town’s thrilling 4-3 First Round victory over Forest Green Rovers in October the first tie shown live on TNT Sports.
