Bayern Munich host Borussia Dortmund in the newest chapter of Der Klassiker today. Though the race for this year’s Bundesliga title is all but wrapped up with Leverkusen enjoying a magical season, there’s still plenty on the line in this one, with Dortmund clinging onto the last Champions League sport.
As is always the case with one of the best rivalries in sports, this is one you don’t want to miss. It’s coming up soon, at 1:30 p.m. ET today, and will be televised on ESPN in the United States, which gives us several free live stream options.
While every Bundesliga match is on ESPN+ in the United States, every once in a while we’ll get one that makes its way to one of the main ESPN channels. Der Klassiker is obviously as big as it gets in German football, so it’s unsurprising that it’ll also be televised on ESPN.
Fortunately for us, that means many more ways we can watch a live stream of the match. There are five live-TV streaming services in total that include ESPN, and three of those come with a free trial.
Fubo (“Pro” channel plan) will let you watch for seven days free, while YouTube TV (“Base Plan”) and DirecTV Stream (“Entertainment” channel plan or above) each come with a five-day free trial. All of these are priced differently long-term, and all have different pros and cons, but any of them will work perfectly if you’re simply looking to watch Der Klassiker for free.
Of course, while any of those previously mentioned options are good if you want to watch this particular match for free, they don’t make much sense if you plan on watching any more Bundesliga action this season.
If that’s the case, then you’ll just want to get ESPN+, which includes every single Bundesliga game. There’s no free trial, but at just $11 per month (or $15 per month for a bundle of ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+), it’s easily worth it for everything that’s included. In addition to any Bundesliga game you want, you can also watch the DFB-Pokal semifinals next week (and the final in May), La Liga, the Copa del Rey final, the FA Cup semifinals next month (and the final in May) and dozens of other live sports. There’s also tons of on-demand content, including the popular 30-for-30 documentary series, original shows and more.
All-in-all, not a bad $11 to spend.
All of the aforementioned streaming services are blocked in non-US countries, but a virtual private network (VPN) can help there. VPN services hide your location, which lets you get around geo-restrictions and stream ESPN+ or any other streaming service as if you were actually physically located in the United States.
We’ve put together some lists of the best VPN services and best VPN deals if you want to find what works best for you. But if you just want something to get started right now, NordVPN is our top choice. It’s a fantastic VPN for live streaming sports, and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out risk-free.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.