Why Ronaldo's return to Man Utd won't be live on UK TV

Stefan Bienkowski

• 11 Sept 2021 08:55 BST
• 3 min read

It's a huge day for Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United, with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner set to return in the club's famous red shirts for the first time since 2009.

The Portugal international was re-signed by Man Utd in the final days of the summer transfer window after spending the summer being heavily linked with moves to Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that Ronaldo is fit and firing to play against Newcastle.

Speaking to the press, he said of Ronaldo: "He has had a good week with us here and he will definitely be on the pitch at some point that is for sure."

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After departing the club for Real Madrid 12 years ago, Ronaldo’s return to the Premier League will undoubtedly be a momentous occasion.

However, no UK viewers outside of the stadium will be able to watch the game.

Due to licencing rules in the United Kingdom, matches such as Man Utd vs Newcastle on a Saturday afternoon are blocked from being televised due to the 3pm Blackout Rule.

What is the 3pm black out rule?

The 3pm Blackout Rule has been in place since the 1960s and is essentially a clause in UEFA statutes that allows domestic football federations to decide which periods of the weekend schedule can and can’t be shown on live television.

In England and Scotland the federations of each country decided over 50 years ago to make that period of time between 2:45pm and 5:15pm, in order to protect attendances at football games throughout the football pyramid.

In theory, the rule means fans across the country will attempt their local or regional grounds rather than stay in to watch the biggest Premier League games every Saturday afternoon.

As such, any match that is scheduled between that time period is unable to be shown live on television within the United Kingdom. Which means fans across the world will be able to watch Ronaldo make his return to Old Trafford, but fans in the UK will have to wait until Match of the Day or a highlights clip from Sky Sports makes its way to social media.