• Match of the Day presenter to anchor channel’s coverage next season • Steven Gerrard, José Mourinho and Rio Ferdinand named as pundits

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

BT Sport has announced that Gary Lineker will anchor its coverage of the Champions League this season alongside current presenter Jake Humphrey.

The former England striker and Match of the Day presenter was unveiled as the channel’s new face of European football at a press conference in east London on Tuesday, while Steven Gerrard, the Chelsea manager José Mourinho and the former England captain Rio Ferdinand will be regular pundits.

Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) Your @btsport #ChampionsLeague presenters. Between us we scored 48 goals for England... pic.twitter.com/aM1bOJ2ng7

BT Sport paid £897m to beat ITV and Sky to the rights to the Champions League in 2013, with the deal due to run for three seasons. The channel has announced that access to European football will cost £5 per month for BT broadband customers, although Premier League, Premiership rugby and the Scottish Premier League will remain free.

“When we launched BT Sport we promised to make televised football far more accessible and affordable than it has been to date,” read a statement from John Petter, chief executive of BT Consumer.

“We have opened the market to millions of new customers and we want to build on that as BT Sport becomes the undisputed home of European football.

“We are of course giving our best offer to existing customers – broadband customers will get the new BT Sport Pack for the heavily discounted price of £5, whilst customers who take broadband and TV from us will get it absolutely free.

Sky Sports' Champions League viewing dives in 'worst year ever' for audiences Read more

“This is a new chapter for European football on TV. BT Sport will show hundreds of live matches throughout the tournament using the very latest technology. Our presenters and experts will also provide the smartest insight and analysis.”

Meanwhile, Sky Sports’ managing director Barney Francis added fuel to the fire by suggesting that viewers’ interest in Europe’s premier club competition is not the same as it used to be, claiming the Premier League is “‘seven times bigger”.

“Over the last five seasons we have seen Champions League audiences fall 36%. Last season we saw our lowest ever average match audience and not a single European game appeared in our top 40 football matches,” wrote Francis in his blog.

“In football, it’s the intense rivalry of our domestic competitions that matters most to customers. You only have to look at the viewing figures to see the evidence. Once again, 49 of the top 50 most watched Premier League matches were on Sky Sports last season.”

Sky’s ratings for Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Juventus were an average of just 497,000, although 5.3m viewers tuned in to watch on ITV.