How to watch La Liga for free in 2024: Trials, discounts, prices and plans for Spain soccer league on ESPN+, Fubo

The 2024/25 La Liga season is now here, as the Spanish top flight sees 20 teams contest 380 matches from mid-August to late May.

A champion will be crowned at the end of it all, with defending title winners Real Madrid the overwhelming favorite as Barcelona and Atletico Madrid give chase. An injection of talent from the summer transfer window was headlined by the arrival of Kylian Mbappe at the Bernabeu, while Julian Alvarez joined Atleti and Barcelona shelled out big money for Dani Olmo.

Eyes will be on upstarts Girona as well, as the City Football Group club beat the odds last season to secure a top-four finish and qualify for the Champions League. Their attempt to establish a longer-term position amongst the upper echelon of La Liga clubs while navigating a Champions League schedule will be an enjoyable storyline to follow.

Meanwhile, newly promoted clubs Las Palmas, Leganes, and Espanyol will be primed to hunt for safety in an unforgiving top-flight environment.

The Sporting News brings you all the essentials on how to watch La Liga matches in the United States, including TV channels, streaming services, pricing, discounts, free trials, and more.

How to watch La Liga in USA for 2024/25: TV channel, live stream

• TV channels: ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
• Streaming: ESPN+ , Fubo

Disney owns exclusive rights to all La Liga, Supercopa de Espana, and Copa del Rey matches in the United States.

The only way to watch every match of the 2024/25 season will be via streaming service ESPN+ , who offer access to all matches in both English and Spanish for subscribers only.

Many matches are made available on television. Most televised games are found in Spanish on ESPN Deportes, which is available to stream on Fubo . Select matches may be made available on other English-language Disney-owned channels such as ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2. Those would also be viewable on Fubo .

How to watch La Liga for free in 2024/25 season

The only way to watch La Liga matches for free across the 2024/25 season is by signing up for the free trial of Fubo to access matches which are selected for television broadcast.

As of the start of the 2024/25 season, ESPN+ does not offer a free trial for the general public.

However, some wireless and internet providers boast special offers to secure ESPN+ at no cost. Spectrum partners with ESPN+ to offer Select Plus customers the streaming service for free.

How much does it cost to watch La Liga on ESPN+?

A subscription to ESPN+ is the only way to watch every match of the 2024/25 La Liga season. While ESPN designates some matches, most often featuring the big three clubs Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid, on television, the large majority of matches are only available on the company's dedicated streaming service.

As of the start of the season, a subscription to just ESPN+ costs $10.99 per month. There is also a yearly option for $109.99, which comes out to around $9.17 per month, a savings of slightly less than $2 per month or around 17 percent.

You can, however, package ESPN+ into a bundle for two other Disney streaming services, Hulu and Disney+. The base version costs $14.99 per month, while the premium version with no ads costs $24.99 per month, allowing a user access to all three services. There is no annual option for the Disney bundle.

Student discount for La Liga on ESPN+

Currently, Disney is not offering a student discount for a subscription to either just ESPN+ or the Disney bundle.

There is a student discount for just Hulu on its own, but that has not been extended to other Disney properties as of the time of writing.

How to watch La Liga on other cable or streaming services

ESPN+ remains the only way to watch every match of the 2024/25 La Liga season, but games designated for television broadcast on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN Deportes can be accessed on a number of platforms.

All cable and streaming services which offer ESPN channels also unlock access to any streaming broadcasts of that same channel on WatchESPN.

Fubo

Fubo offers a free two-week trial that allows a viewer to access all of the streaming service's channels across 14 days at no cost.

The base Fubo Pro plan includes 183 channels for $79.99 per month, including many of ESPN's main English-language channels.

Upgrading to Fubo Elite adds many of ESPN's peripheral English-language channels like ESPNU and ESPN News. While these channels are not often used for European soccer coverage, occasionally matches can be bumped to these channels on a temporary basis to work around unforeseen events such as overtime of prior live coverage or other occurrences.

The Fubo Latino plan is cheaper but only comes with Spanish-language channels like ESPN Deportes. Many of ESPN's La Liga television coverage is aired on this channel, and many do not have a simultaneous English-language broadcast, making it a solid option.

The only way to include all three main English-language channels and ESPN Deportes is by tacking on the International Sports Plus add-on to a Fubo Pro or Fubo Elite subscription, which is an additional $6.99 per month.

Sling TV

* Price shown is the regular price for each package. All Sling packages are half off for the first month, with the reduced price not shown.

Sling splits its channels into two base packages plus a Sling Latino add-on, meaning fans are unable to get all the necessary channels in one offering. Sling Latino can only be bundled with Orange or Blue, not both, and thus it's impossible to get everything together.

However, the splitting offered by Sling does allow fans cheaper options if only some of the channels are desired.

YouTube TV

YouTube TV's base plan includes all ESPN channels except ESPN Deportes, which requires an additional Spanish Plus add-on.

One advantage of YouTube TV is that its base plan includes other channels with heavy soccer offerings, including USA Network (Premier League), CBS Sports (Serie A, Champions League), beIN Sports (Ligue 1), and Fox Sports (international soccer).

DirecTV

If La Liga fans are looking to secure more traditional cable, DirecTV is a less flexible option using a satellite. Customers are locked into a years-long contract, but it does add the ease of one home for all channels.

While ESPN Deportes requires an add-on like many other U.S. services, the process is easier and more targeted with DirecTV as the channel can be added on as a single option, rather than a larger Spanish-language add-on or package.

La Liga facts & figures

Who are the biggest La Liga clubs?

Across 94 years of Primera Division football in Spain, only six clubs have won more than one league title, and only nine clubs have ever won a championship. The league has largely been dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona, sharing 63 titles between them, while tacking on Atletico Madrid makes up 74 of the 94 total championships.

The only club to have won a La Liga title not currently competing in the top flight is Deportivo La Coruna, who were relegated from the first tier in 2018 and have not been back since.

How many matches are played in a La Liga season?

A traditional La Liga season is contested as a round-robin format, with all 20 teams playing each other participant both home and away.

This means each club has 19 possible opponents, playing each one twice for a total of 38 matches in a season. Multiply that by all 20 clubs before dividing by two to account for duplicate listings by both clubs, and it results in 380 total matches per season .