Sunset+Vine, an independent British production company, is setting up camp at Stamford Bridge as the newly-crowned FIFA Club World Cup Champions Chelsea return home to complete preparations for the Premier League season with a pair of high-profile friendlies.
The 2025 weekender will see Chelsea go head-to-head with Bayer Leverkusen on 8 August and AC Milan on 10 August, bringing top tier football to free-to-air UK broadcaster 5.
Sunset+Vine will deploy 14 cameras for match coverage and presentation with production led by executive producer Stephen Booth – fresh from overseeing Sunset+Vine’s BBC coverage of the UEFA 2025 Women’s Euros – alongside Sunset+Vine’s match director Jamie Oakford, whose credits include FIFA World Cup finals.
On producing this weekender, Booth tells SVG Europe: “We’re used to putting on football OBs in quite a short timescale after commission, coming up with a presentation and commentary team, and a new graphics ‘look’.
“It’s a healthy spec for pre-season friendlies, with 16 cameras including Steadicam and Netcams. This is a fully on-site production with the OB provided by Cloudbass and graphics from AE Live. There will be a small team back in our Sunset+Vine Hammersmith office providing short online highlights at full time and a longer considered match edit a little later,” Booth notes on the production.
Rising star Alex Aljoe will take the helm as the presenter for both broadcasts with insights and analysis provided by renowned guest pundits Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Carlton Cole and Steffen Freund. Commentary will be provided by Connor McNamara and Chelsea legend Pat Nevin with reporter Faye Carruthers.
Raphael Pendergast, acting head of sport at 5, says: “Following Chelsea’s victory at the Club World Cup live on 5, we are excited to show the next step of their journey towards a domestic title challenge. We want to deliver established premium-quality match coverage and all the extra insights that these pre-season games can provide. As a major player in elite football coverage in the UK, Sunset+Vine was the a natural choice as our production partner for these exciting fixtures.”
With this latest commission, Sunset+Vine’s portfolio now encompasses multiple prestigious football broadcasting contracts, including those for the Premier League and UEFA Champions League on Amazon Prime, as well as the BBC, FIFA and UEFA.
“We’re thrilled to partner with 5 to bring the excitement of these high-profile friendly matches to a 5 audience,” adds Peter Angell, Sunset+Vine CEO. “Our team is the best in the business of football broadcast, and we look forward to delivering the engaging viewing experience that Sunset+Vine is renowned for in football.”
Leverkusen were last-season’s Bundesliga runners up and all eyes will be on new manager Erik ten Hag as he returns to the UK for the first time since leaving Manchester United earlier this year, while AC Milan’s squad includes a number of former Chelsea players including Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic and Fikayo Tomori.
