The French Ligue 1 is back along with all of Europe's other, premier football leagues, but this time with a twist: Lionel Messi, arguably the world's best player, is now on the books at Paris Saint-Germain.
In many places around the world, however, Ligue 1 will either not be available due to regional restrictions or exclusively accessible through some sort of subscription TV service. If you download a VPN though, you'll be able to unblock streams of Ligue 1 available in other countries!
How to watch Ligue 1 live online
We'll go into why in a bit more detail later, but most Ligue 1 games are being shown on Amazon Prime this season for customers in France. With that being said, here are some quick instructions that will show you how to unblock Ligue 1 football on Amazon Prime video in no time.
- Sign up to a VPN to watch Ligue 1 live online. For Ligue 1 , we suggest ExpressVPN because it provides fast and reliable connections in France and other regions Ligue 1 is shown in – as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Download, install and run the VPN software on your chosen device.
- Connect to a VPN server in the location where you want to stream Ligue 1 live. Choose a French server and go to Amazon Prime France.
- Navigate to a website that is streaming Ligue 1. Amazon is broadcasting 80% of Ligue 1 games in France!
- Start watching Messi, Mbappe, and Neymar scoring for fun!
Where to Watch French Ligue 1 Online
The rights to show Ligue 1 for next season have been a pretty contentious issue over in France, with Amazon wading into a market that has typically been dominated by French channels like Canal+.
Canal+ announced that, due to Amazon acquiring the rights to show over 80% of Ligue 1 games, they will not be airing Ligue 1 this year and will focus on other leagues such as the Top14. However, after a court ruling, they've now agreed to show two Ligue 1 games a week.
How to watch Ligue 1 in France
As I just mentioned above, Amazon now has the right to show the vast majority of Ligue 1 games in France. The media giant will show 80% of the games in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 for the next three seasons after a multi-million-pound deal.
Amazon customers in France will have to cough up €12.99/month on a rolling contract that can be canceled whenever. That is on top of the cost of Amazon Prime membership, which in France is priced at €5.99/month or €49/year.
How to watch Ligue 1 in the rest of the world
Although you can just connect to a VPN server in France, there's plenty of other channels around the world to watch Ligue 1 on:
| Country | TV channel/service | Price | Additional info |
| Germany | DAZN | €119.99/year €11.99/month | Extension of existing contract with Ligue 1. |
| United Kingdom | BT Sport | £15/pm (2-year) £25/pm (rolling) | Five Ligue 1 matches a week, every week. |
| South America & Mexico | ESPN/TV5MONDE | Price depends on cable TV provider. | Channels are only available through cable. |
| Mid. East/N. Africa | beIN Sports | $120/year $12/month | beIN Sports Connect is available without cable. |
| USA/Canada | beIN Sports | $179.99/year $19.99/month | Games also available via TV5MONDE. |
| Canada | One Soccer | $99.99/year $9.99/month | Not a huge selection of Ligue 1 games. |
| Australia/New Zealand | BeIN Sports | $179.99/year $19.99/month | Have contact in Australia until 2024. |
Most fans living in countries in Africa can access Ligue 1 with Canal+, whereas fans in places like India will have to use TV5MONDE, the cable channel.
What are the best Ligue 1 VPNs?
Below, there's a list of the best VPNs to use to unblock Ligue 1, wherever you are in the world. The providers have been carefully selected by our team because we can confidently say they can perform this task well, and we've stress-tested their software in numerous scenarios and situations to ensure it does what it says on the tin. They've been picked because of their superior speeds, security
- ExpressVPN - The best VPN for streaming Ligue 1 football. It's super fast, secure and can unblock amazon prime and more with ease.
- Private Internet Access - A great option for unblocking Ligue 1. It has lots of French servers and some great features.
- Surfshark - A cheap VPN for streaming Ligue 1. It has super fast servers and a smart DNS so you can watch Ligue 1 on the big screen.
- CyberGhost VPN - A great VPN service for beginners. It has easy to use apps and plenty of French IP addresses.
- VyprVPN - A fast great VPN for watching football. It has strong encryption, great apps, and it's quick.
What you need to live stream Ligue 1 from anywhere
You need a VPN to unblock Ligue 1 because accessing geo-restricted channels from other countries requires your IP address to be hidden. However, there are other features that some VPNs have that will be massively beneficial.
Not all VPNs are the same. Some - in fact, many - are a lot slower than the few top-tier providers you've heard from. Football is a fast-paced game where vital moments can come and go in just seconds, so you can't afford to set up a dodgy connection that you're worried might drop off every time your team goes on the attack. So fast connection and download speeds are incredibly essential.
Another thing to consider is where a provider's servers are. If you want to watch Ligue 1 with french commentary and have an Amazon Prime account already, for example, it would be a bit stupid to choose a VPN provider that doesn't have any servers in France. Here is my list of the most important factors you should consider for this task:
- Server locations in France (or Germany/UK/South America depending on your preferred commentary language)
- Superb speeds to reduce any chance of buffering and latency
- Excellent customer support in case you encounter problems mid-match
- A clean track record when it comes to preserving user privacy
- Lots of contemporary, state-of-the-art security features
Remember, this isn't an exhaustive list, but just a few examples to get your mind on track so you can make the right decision.
Why are these the best VPNs for streaming Ligue 1 football?
The VPNs featured in this article have been chosen for a variety of reasons. The first is reliability - these aren't providers that run into problems very often, and companies like ExpressVPN have some of the most well-maintained networks in the whole world. The second is speed - ExpressVPN, NordVPN and the other providers featured in this article are all pack leaders when it comes to speed.
You might be thinking: all VPNs do sort of the same thing, so does it really matter if I go for the cheapest provider out there? If you've been thinking this, I don't blame you - many VPNs feel like they're offering almost identical services. However, to say all VPNs are the same is also not quite true. For instance, you won't see any free VPNs in this article because there are just too many free VPNs knocking around with poorly managed networks and terrible histories of selling user data for us to comfortably recommend one.
Ligue 1 season build-up
Of course, much of the attention surrounding Ligue 1 this summer has been linked to the arrival of Lionel Messi from Barcelona, after the Catalonian club was unable to resign him despite the two parties agreeing on a wage reduction.
But it's easy to forget that it was Lille OSC, not star-studded PSG, that clinched the title last year; a much-needed reminder that France's top division is not a one-horse race for glory.
Who are the title favorites?
notwithstanding what I said above, PSG are still obviously the favourites to lift the Ligue 1 trophy at the end of this campaign. Not only did they sign six-time Ballon D'or Winner and La Liga all-time top goalscorer Lionel Messi, they also signed arguably the best goalkeeper in the world in Euro 2020 winner Ginaluigi Donnarumma - and didn't pay a single penny for either of them. Achraf Hakimi has also joined, which will plug some defensive holes, and they were also quite remarkably able to snag Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos on a free too. Gini Wijnaldum has also joined (also for free, too) from Liverpool, completing a list of feeless transfers that some are dubbing the best summer recruitment drive in the history of the sport.
However, in revent years it's been clear that despite not having to the endless pot of financial resources their Parisian counterparts do, French teams are finding ways to win. PSG have lost out domestically on three occassions in the last decade, twice to Lille and once to Monaco, with the former surely believing they could stun the well-equipped challengers for a second year running. However, goalkeeper Mike Maignan, who kept a majorly impressive 21 clean sheets last season, has packed his bags for Milan. They've also lost the manager that led them to the title too, so whether they can repeat the pre-summer heroics that saw them snatch the title by a solitary point is an open question.
The team former Lille boos Christophe Galtier went to are also in with a shout of snatching glory. Nice will be looking to improve on a ninth place finish last summer and, depending on whether Lille fall away and clubs slightly above them slip up. The club - based in the south-east of France along the riviera - have made a number of decent-looking signings during a busy transfer window for the club. It might be a long shot, but Galtier has shown he's a manager of true quality, so anything can happen (just ask Leicester City!).
Teams with a bit more of a genuine shout such as Monaco, who finished third last season, and Lyon, who finished fourth. Monaco haven't had the busiest transfer window in the clubs history and have been restricted to just a few signings, whilst a string of players left for small fees. However, they do have quality in their ranks, including Wissam Ben Yedder and Aleksander Golovin, and have were the last team to beat PSG to the title before Lille did the same last season. Don't rule them out!
Lyon, on the other hand, have a much stronger squad teeming with talent including Moussa Dembele and Marcos Paqueta, with Paqueta having a strong summer featuring in the Copa America. At the beginning of the 2000s, Lyon won a string of consecutive Ligue 1 titles and will be hoping that they'll see the trophy return to their region this time around.
Who are the relegation candidates?
Ligue 1 had an enthralling relegation dogfight last season, with the excitement probably best illustrated by the fact that Reims, all the way up in 14th, only finished the season two points above 18th-placed and relegation playoff-bound Nantes, who just about hung on to secure their place in the top-flight for another season.
The teams that narrowly avoided the drop will be hoping to do so again this time round, but some will lose out. Brest, Lorient and Strabourg were all tredding on very thin ice towards the tail-end of the last season and none of them have signed a player that looks capable of driving them up the table with goals or shoring things up at the back.
Both Troyes and Clermont have come up as newly promoted sides from Ligue 2, which certainly puts them in a poor position as their teams have only ever been tested against weaker opposition. There's every chance - as there is in all elite professional leagues that run a promotion and relegation mechanism with lower leagues - that they could go straight back down again. Troyes especially have made a bit of a habit out of this, yoyoing between the first and second division on a number of occassions in recent years. New boys Clermont have started their debut Ligue 1 season brightly and emerged victorious from the first two games of the season. If they can use this as a foundation and kick on for the next few games, they'll be in a really good foundation going into the business end of the season.
Upcoming fixtures
The fixtures taking place on Match Week Three of the 2021/22 Ligue 1 season are shown below. These times are in Central European Standard Time.
Friday 5th November
Lille vs Metz (21:00)
Saturday 6th November
Lens vs Lyon (17:00)
Nantes vs Paris Saint Germain (21:00)
Sunday 7th November
Nice vs Angers (12:00)
Lorient vs Montpellier (15:00)
Reims vs Brest (15:00)
Rennes vs Troyes (15:00)
Saint-Etienne vs Strasbourg (15:00)
Bordeaux vs Monaco (17:05)
Marseille vs Claremount Foot (20:45)