Die-hard sports fans from the UK are constantly trying to stay up-to-date with their favourite sports and teams. They regularly follow matches either in person or on TV/stream. Plus, they read articles and watch online analysis on a daily basis.
However, there is another popular way of keeping up with the latest sports news and updates. It’s the old and traditional way of radio broadcasting, which reaches out to millions of listeners in the UK. Here, we’ll mention and describe the best UK radio stations for sports coverage.
talkSPORT – Live Coverage of the Biggest Sports for Spectating and Betting
Owned by News Broadcasting, talkSPORT is one of the biggest sports radio stations in the UK and Ireland. As of March 2025, it features a weekly audience of around 3.5 million. It also averages 6.5 hours per listener per week.
The program of this radio station includes live coverage of sports matches, interviews with famous sportspersons, discussions, and phone-ins. talkSPORT is also the official broadcaster of several sports competitions, including the Premier League, EFL Championship, League One, and League Two.
Besides the UK and Ireland, talkSPORT also broadcasts live commentary of every Premier League event abroad. Listeners get to choose whether to listen to the radio broadcast in English, Spanish, Mandarin, or a different language.
Millions of sports fans listen to this radio station as it offers details, fun, and up-to-date content. Plus, it has a well-structured program that goes on 24/7. As such, it also manages to attract listeners who like to bet on sports. They use talkSPORT’s insights to place an informed and well-thought-out bet.
BBC Radio 5 Live – Interviews, Discussions, News, and Updates
Launched in March 1994, BBC Radio 5 Live is a UK national radio station that airs 24/7. It mainly broadcasts sports, news, interviews, discussions, and phone-ins. As of March 2025, it generates a weekly audience of around 5.4 million with an average of 6 hours per listener per week.
These numbers make BBC Radio 5 Live the biggest sports radio station in the UK. However, talkSPORT still remains a dominant force in the radio spectrum.
In terms of competitions, BBC Radio 5 Live covers all major sports events in the UK. This is especially true with football leagues and tournaments such as the Premier League, FA Cup, FIFA World Cup, and more. Listeners can also follow live interviews and commentary from the Olympics, Wimbledon, etc.
However, the radio’s coverage on certain events isn’t available online due to rights restrictions. Plus, it may only be available to listeners with UK IP addresses. This excludes potential listeners from abroad who want to follow the well-informed live broadcasts.
talkSPORT 2 – Covering Other Popular Sports From Around the World
As the name clearly indicates, talkSPORT 2 is a sister radio station that started out in March 2016. It’s a 24/7 sports radio station that focuses on a wide variety of live sports events popular in the UK. Among them are football, golf, rugby, horse racing, cricket, tennis, and more.
The radio station’s program also includes US sports competitions like the NBA and NFL. The entire purpose of talkSPORT 2 is to cover other attractive sports without losing any listeners on the main station. Since 2019, this station has positioned itself as a hub for specialist programs and rolling sports news.
Sports fans tune in to listen to live commentary, live fan call-ins, experts’ analysis, and much more. Frequent listeners will instantly notice the similarities with talkSPORT in terms of program, style of work, and quality of information.
This radio station has a weekly audience of around 676,000 listeners as of March 2025. It also features an average of 2.1 hours per listener per week, which is 3 times lower than talkSPORT.
BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra – A Digital Channel Focusing on Extended Live Sports Coverage
Similar to talkSPORT, the BBC also features a sister radio station for sports coverage. The BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra focuses on extended live coverage. It’s only available on TV platforms, digital radio, and BBC Sounds, but it doesn’t support international streaming due to licencing reasons.
BBC decided to expand and create this additional station as it couldn’t cover all sports on the main one. It still offers live commentary, analysis, and insights on sports like football, cricket, baseball, tennis, hockey, F1, and many more.
If a major news story breaks out on 5 Sports Extra, it will exchange broadcasts with 5 Live. However, in May 2025, the BBC introduced two additional stations, 5 Sports Extra 2 and 5 Sports Extra 3. This allowed live events to broadcast on BBC Sounds without crossing over.
We should note that BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra has around 1.6 million weekly listeners. It also features an average of 2.8 hours per listener per week.