How to watch an old soccer match without knowing the score first?
April 24, 2020 8:26 AM Subscribe
A friend and I want to watch an old international soccer match (doesn't matter which one, really) over video one of these socially distant evenings. How can we do it, without knowing the score first?
A friend and I plan to screen share and watch a futbol match together, but we'd really like to not know the result before we start. So here are the conditions:
- We want to watch an international game with some gravity and meaning, not a friendly and not club, but it can be a regional cup title or World Cup, men or women, etc.
- We probably have the most familiarity with US / European teams, but we are not picky.
- We watch World Cup together every four years, but neither of us are big time soccer watching fans, so any match will likely do except World Cup semis to finals games, which we will remember.
- Now the hard part - how do we find a link without knowing the outcome? And, if we give up on the not-knowing part, what are good sites (pay or free) to stream full 90 minute games from the past?
A friend and I plan to screen share and watch a futbol match together, but we'd really like to not know the result before we start. So here are the conditions:
- We want to watch an international game with some gravity and meaning, not a friendly and not club, but it can be a regional cup title or World Cup, men or women, etc.
- We probably have the most familiarity with US / European teams, but we are not picky.
- We watch World Cup together every four years, but neither of us are big time soccer watching fans, so any match will likely do except World Cup semis to finals games, which we will remember.
- Now the hard part - how do we find a link without knowing the outcome? And, if we give up on the not-knowing part, what are good sites (pay or free) to stream full 90 minute games from the past?
Best answer: I'd recommend watching games post 2008 when HD is available.
Youtube has plenty full games. Do a search on "Full Match World Cup" or "Full Match UEFA" for world cup, champions league or Euro championships. Most have the final scoreline in the title, but there are many that don't.
Pick a game with alot of views which will mean it is a great game and/or the quality of the video is high. Perhaps check out the video to make sure quality is good and is in your preferred language.
posted by sandmanwv at 9:03 AM on April 24, 2020
Youtube has plenty full games. Do a search on "Full Match World Cup" or "Full Match UEFA" for world cup, champions league or Euro championships. Most have the final scoreline in the title, but there are many that don't.
Pick a game with alot of views which will mean it is a great game and/or the quality of the video is high. Perhaps check out the video to make sure quality is good and is in your preferred language.
posted by sandmanwv at 9:03 AM on April 24, 2020
Best answer: It looks like FIFA is putting some past World Cup games up on their Youtube page -- link.
I watched the first couple of mintues of two of the videos with no sound - no spoilers score-wise. They're not finals, although they could be knockout games (I don't remember the detailed brackets, and it wasn't indicated on screen in the opening). 20 games so far, and it appears they are adding to the list.
posted by five toed sloth at 9:06 AM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
I watched the first couple of mintues of two of the videos with no sound - no spoilers score-wise. They're not finals, although they could be knockout games (I don't remember the detailed brackets, and it wasn't indicated on screen in the opening). 20 games so far, and it appears they are adding to the list.
posted by five toed sloth at 9:06 AM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
Make sure to turn off/not look at the comments, the first few will often spoil the result
posted by JZig at 9:50 AM on April 24, 2020
posted by JZig at 9:50 AM on April 24, 2020
My cousin and I have been long-distance watching old games together using this site. You have to sign up for an account to watch. You also can't use the search function without paying money, but you can navigate through the menu and sort by region/league/tournament -- it's a little clunky but fine. Scores are not posted anywhere, which is great. We have been watching mostly old Premier League games but they seem to have plenty of international stuff too. I do not know how legal it is, but it at least doesn't seem terribly sketchy (you don't get 800 popups every time you click on something or anything like that).
The BR Football Youtube account seems to have a bunch of Champions League matches available from various years. I strongly recommend the 2005 final.
For women's games, you definitely want USA-Canada at the 2012 Olympics (I watched this literally last night, the audio is a little funky in the first half but gets better after that, video is fine throughout). If by "we watch the World Cup every four years" you mean you watch the MEN'S World Cup, get yourself over to the FIFATV Youtube account, where you can watch some good stuff from the 2015 and 2019 WWCs:
2015 semifinal Germany vs USA
2019 quarterfinal France vs USA
2019 semifinal England vs USA
No finals for either, annoyingly, but you CAN watch the 1999 World Cup final!
Do NOT look at the video descriptions or comments on the FIFA Youtube links, they list all the goals and other major happenings in a pinned top comment for some stupid reason.
(No, I don't miss soccer, why do you ask?)
posted by catoclock at 10:54 AM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
The BR Football Youtube account seems to have a bunch of Champions League matches available from various years. I strongly recommend the 2005 final.
For women's games, you definitely want USA-Canada at the 2012 Olympics (I watched this literally last night, the audio is a little funky in the first half but gets better after that, video is fine throughout). If by "we watch the World Cup every four years" you mean you watch the MEN'S World Cup, get yourself over to the FIFATV Youtube account, where you can watch some good stuff from the 2015 and 2019 WWCs:
2015 semifinal Germany vs USA
2019 quarterfinal France vs USA
2019 semifinal England vs USA
No finals for either, annoyingly, but you CAN watch the 1999 World Cup final!
Do NOT look at the video descriptions or comments on the FIFA Youtube links, they list all the goals and other major happenings in a pinned top comment for some stupid reason.
(No, I don't miss soccer, why do you ask?)
posted by catoclock at 10:54 AM on April 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ah, sorry, I missed the part where you don't want club games. The 2005 Champions League final is truly great though, I promise!
posted by catoclock at 10:56 AM on April 24, 2020
posted by catoclock at 10:56 AM on April 24, 2020
Could you have a third party set it up for you, to avoid spoilers? Does either of you live with someone who could do it?
posted by Wretch729 at 11:14 AM on April 24, 2020
posted by Wretch729 at 11:14 AM on April 24, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by General Malaise at 8:30 AM on April 24, 2020