How to watch Group F | Stream Portugal vs France

Euro 2020 is here, and the teams in Group F – nominally dubbed this tournament’s ‘Group of Death’ – are last out of the starting blocks. 

National and public service broadcasters all across Europe will be airing plenty of the games for free so people can support their teams without having to pay a penny. But in many other regions, subscription TV channels and services have the exclusive rights to show the games, meaning fans will have to pay a fee to watch – unless they download a VPN.

Next up in Group F is Portugal vs France. This article will show you precisely how to access a free stream safely and legally with a VPN and also why it’s the best option to go for! 

Unblock Portugal vs France in 5 steps

The best way to unblock the match is to use a VPN service. VPNs spoof your IP address so you can unblock content that isn’t available in your location, including the Euros. Once you get through the sign-up process – which isn’t much different from signing up for something like antivirus software, or a subscription for a TV channel – unblocking a game is actually quite simple. 

Just ensure you follow these steps and you should be up, running, and streaming Portugal vs France in HD in no time! 

After you’ve gone through these steps, you should be ready to go – but scroll down the page if you’d like to know a bit more about the players, managers, and teams battling it out for victory in Euro 2021’s group of death. 

How to watch Portugal vs France outside of Europe

Below, you’ll a little bit more information about the channels showing the games in various countries across Europe. 

Not all the channels airing the fixtures across the continent are listed – every single one of the 40+ European countries has at least one broadcaster showing the game – but there’s a good mix here and, hopefully, you’ll see one with your preferred commentary language. 

Take our Euros quiz

Take our quiz below will a chance to win an ExpressVPN subscription and a Linksys WRT3200ACM Router. Every correct answer you give will be entered into our prize draw. We will also choose two runners up from the prize draw to win an ExpressVPN subscription.

Disclaimer: this page loads third-party cookies onto your browser to utilize the Gleam competition plugin. You can view their privacy policy here.

What time does Portugal vs France start?

Portugal and France lock horns at 21:00 CET (20:00 GMT) on Wednesday 23 June in Budapest. Oddly enough – although all bets are off for this topsy-turvy tournament – Hungary, who usually play their home games in their capital, will be trying to wrangle a result out of Germany in Munich at the same time, on the same day.

The way the group stands currently, if Germany were to beat Hungary, one of either France or Portugal will be dependent on results in other groups to decide if they go through as a best third-placed team. This isn’t the end of the world – just ask Portugal, who went through as a third-placed team and went onto win the tournament in 2016. However, sides like Switzerland already have four points and a third-place finish, so it’s unlikely Portugal would again if they lose to France with just three. If they are defeated by France in a similar fashion to Germany, there will surely be a post-tournament inquest to determine how a Portugal team of this caliber failed to progress through the group stage. 

What channel is Portugal vs France on?

For those of you in the United Kingdom, the BBC will be showing the blockbuster clash on BBC One or BBC iPlayer. ITV are showing the Group E games – including Poland vs Slovakia – on the same day, and the two channels are splitting the knockout rounds between them. 

In Portugal, you’ll be able to watch the match on TVI, and in France, the game will be broadcast on either M6 or TF1. 

Do I need a VPN to watch Portugal vs France?

If you live in France or Germany, securing a good stream for the game will be easy thanks to the free coverage from the channels mentioned above. It will also be equally easy to do so in places like the UK and Spain. 

But in other parts of the world, the broadcasting picture is very different. From the US to Australia, Euro 2021 will be shown exclusively on channels that, one way or another, you’ll have to pay for as either part of a cable TV package or a direct subscription. What’s more, all of the European channels showing games – take ITV in the UK for example – enforce geo-restrictions. If you try and access their stream from outside of the United Kingdom, you’ll be served a message saying ‘this content is not available in your country’. Services like ITV are able to do this because when a user visits their site – or any other site for that matter – the IP address of their device is revealed, and IP addresses contain information about your location.  

Millions of fans outside of Europe – and plenty inside the continent – will have to decide: do I pay a hefty subscription fee, or do forgo watching the games? This isn’t a position any football fan should be put in. The good news is that this dilemma can be avoided completely thanks to the existence of VPNs. VPN stands for ‘Virtual Private Network’, and consists of a collection of servers dotted around the world in various locations. VPN providers funnel all of their user’s traffic through encrypted tunnels and through these private servers before it gets to the internet. All the sites the users visit see the IP address of whatever servers they’re connected through, rather than their device’s ‘true’ IP addresses. This means the geo-restrictions sites like to use can’t be enforced. 

The end result? You can watch games in HD on European channels – with English, French, Spanish and Portuguese commentary – for free! All you need to do is sign up to a reputable VPN provider like ExpressVPN (more on this later). 

How to watch Portugal vs France outside of Europe

Below, you’ll a little bit more information about the channels showing the games in various countries across Europe. 

Not all the channels airing the fixtures across the continent are listed – every single one of the 40+ European countries has at least one broadcaster showing the game – but there’s a good mix here and, hopefully, you’ll see one with your preferred commentary language. 

Stream Portugal vs France online for free

Fans across the world spend time before games trying to locate free streams they can access that don’t require subscription fees. This is a shame because it leads many of them to pirate streams that don’t have permission from UEFA to show the matches. They’re also often full of malware (more on that later). And even though subscription tv channels rule the roost, the question still remains: is there really a safe way to watch the European Championship – or any other game for that matter – online and for free? Can a subscription fee truly be worked around? 

You might be slightly surprised, but the answer is, in fact, yes. We’ve already discussed how a VPN can help you access a legal, safe, and high-quality stream in your preferred commentary language – but of course, you do have to pay for the VPN subscription. However, ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you can download their software, use it for a month, and then request and receive a full refund. This is very convenient because Euro 2021 runs for exactly thirty days between 11 June and 11 July. So, technically, you can download ExpressVPN, use it for the Euros, and then claim your money back. 

I’ve recommended this method to my friends living in Australia and the US. When I’ve explained it, many of them have asked me why ExpressVPN would do this – and it’s a fair question. The main reason is that ExpressVPN is confident in their product and, crucially, they have a right to be. ExpressVPN now has hundreds of thousands of subscribers and provides a top-class service. It’s reliable, consistent, and ultra-secure and will give you an enhanced level of privacy online. On top of this, many people I know who’ve downloaded a VPN have been surprised with how often it’s come in handy – it has a multitude of use cases beyond unblocking websites and keeping you safe, and considering it’s only a few dollars a month, it’s well worth keeping around. 

Why you should avoid illegal streams for Euro 2020

For various reasons, every time there’s a major football tournament taking place, thousands of people head over to pirate streaming websites to access the game illegally. One of these reasons is the rise of subscription TV channels and the hefty prices that come with them. Another, however, is that for many people, pirating football is just part and parcel of how they watch games. Nowadays, there are so many different ways to access pirate content that consumers willing to take the risk are spoilt for choice. 

This development is concerning because of the prevalence of malware found in these sorts of sites. Often, illegal streaming sites are full of ad overlays and pop-up windows that are designed to get in the way of the game, forcing you to click on them if you want to see the picture. They aren’t just innocent advertisements and can lead to your computer being infected with malware. There have been a number of reports published over the last few years regarding the existence and effects of malware in sports streaming sites, with the evidence suggesting that the safest thing to do is just to stay away. Plus, with the power of a VPN, you can avoid illegal streams entirely. 

So not only is it illegal, but you’re also putting yourself in harm’s way for no good reason considering there are ways to stream the matches safely with a VPN. On top of this, illegal streams are notorious for producing a poor quality viewing experience. Do you really want to watch a laggy, buffering, pixelated game that could cut out at any time, forcing you to find another stream and open yourself up to more potential dangers? I certainly wouldn’t. 

Group F: meet the teams

France

The group of death wouldn’t be the group of death without the last World Cup winners in it, would it? France is one favorite to win the tournament and, thanks to the presence of Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, has one of the most lethal attacks in international football. Not since winning the tournament in 2000 has Les Bleus’ squad been so full of quality at all ends of the pitch, with EPL stars Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante amongst the midfielders, Real Madrid center-half Raphael Varane holding down the defense, and long-serving captain Hugo Lloris between the sticks. 

The big squad news for France is that Real Madrid Karim Benzema – who’s been out of the national squad for six years due to allegedly pressurizing compatriot Mathieu Valbuena into paying blackmailers who threatened to release an ‘intimate video’ in which he featured – has been called up, despite the trial taking place towards later on this year. His performances for Real Madrid this season have been impressive to say the least, yet this still seems an odd time to bring him back into the fold, particularly considering the accusations leveled against him and the fact the trial is scheduled for October. How this decision affects the team’s dynamic will be interesting. Olivier Giroud – who was pivotal to France’s World Cup win despite failing to score in the tournament – may have to sit on the sidelines in place of Benzema.

France won 8 of their 10 qualifying matches for the tournament but were unable to beat fellow contenders Turkey and even lost to them in Istanbul. Despite this, France will be hoping to become the third team – along with Germany and Spain – to win the European Championships for the third time. 

Germany

Germany will be eager to improve on their dismal World Cup performance in 2018. After winning the tournament in 2014 and reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2016, Die Mannschaft crashed out in embarrassing fashion in Russia, slumping to 1-0 to 2-0 defeats to Mexico and South Korea, respectively.

German fans were bitterly disappointed after that poor showing, so the pressure will be on for the manager and squad to get it right this time around. But there’s another sort of pressure, too – this will be coach Joachim Löw’s last tournament in charge of Germany, and he will likely take solace in the fact Germany has an unrivaled track record at the Euros. Although the most recent of Germany’s European Championship victories came back in 1996, it was the third in the county’s history and they boast an impressive overall record in the competition that’s seen them reach the final six times in the last half-century.

Germany’s squad has just been announced and will include Chelsea’s attacking duo Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, Bayern Munich star and scourge of Tottenham Hotspur Serge Gnabry, era-defining goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and Premier League title winner İlkay Gündoğan. Toni Kroos, still one of the best midfielders in the world at the age of 31, will also play an integral role in proceedings if his recovery from Covid-19 goes smoothly. It’s a strong squad, but one that still feels very much in transition; although a mixture of youth and experience may prove key to navigating through this unusually tricky group. 

Hungary

To say Hungary have a bit of a task on their hands to progress to the knockout stages is an understatement. The Magyars are 37th in the FIFA World rankings, have qualified for a European Championship only once since 1972, and haven’t set foot at a World Cup since 1976. They’re going to have to pull something miraculous out of the bag to take them through to the knockout rounds, and considering they have the last World Cup winners, the last European Championship winners, and the most successful team in Euros history standing in their way, their chances look incredibly slim.

This is football, however, and despite finishing fourth out of five teams in their qualifying group, Hungary edged through the play-offs to reach the tournament proper, with young, talented midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai scoring the dramatic winner against Iceland. The RB Leipzig man will be relied upon to create chances for the Hungarian side that doesn’t contain a glut of recognizable stars, apart from goalkeeper and three-time Hungarian player of the year Peter Gulasci, the first Hungarian to play in a Champions League semi-final. 

Hungary’s solitary recent foray into international tournaments came in 2016 and will give them some hope they can pull off a shock. Although they failed to progress past the round of 16, they impressively topped a group that contained Portugal, Austria, and Iceland. Their 3-3 draw with eventual winners Portugal was one of the games of the tournament and their attractive, attacking style of football saw them average two goals a game in the group stage. 

Portugal

For many years considered a one-man team thanks to the presence of you-know-who, Portugal showed their mettle by winning the European Championships for the first time in 2016, sneaking past France by a goal to nil in extra time. They had somewhat of a peculiar tournament for a victorious side, finishing third in their group after drawing all three games and then needing extra time to get past Croatia in the round of 16 and penalties to vanquish Poland in the quarters. In fact, they only recorded one victory in normal time, against Wales in the semi-final.

Portugal will be looking for a few more convincing victories this time. They will expect to beat Hungary and may fancy themselves against a German team that lost to minnows North Macedonia in qualifying and is not the commanding force it was five or six years ago. Cristiano Ronaldo has a staggering 103 goals in 173 games for his country and remains their most potent marksman and creative talisman.

However, the form of other Portuguese players around Europe this season will give the nation hope they can get out of this difficult group. Bruno Fernandes’ performances for Manchester United this season suggest he may share that burden, his 18 goals in the EPL a hugely impressive tally, whilst Manchester City center-back Rúben Dias has just picked up a Premier League title and won the Football Writer’s Association Player of the Year award. Elsewhere Atletico Madrid forward João Félix’s form has been good enough to attract transfer interest from Barcelona whilst PSG’s Danilo Pereira and Wolves’ Pedro Neto have both had stellar seasons. 

Group F standings

Teams	PL	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	P
France	1	1	0	0	3	0	3	4
Germany	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	3
Portugal	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1	3
Hungary	1	0	0	1	0	3	-3	1