It's There! A Beautiful Match of the Day.

7 Aug 2001
The UK's leading weekly football show, to be broadcast every Saturday evening, has chosen U2's Beautiful Day as its theme tune.

'The Premiership' is ITV's replacement for Match of the Day - the long-time BBC show - and will kick off at 7pm on Saturday evenings from the start of the new football season in the UK, later this month.

The show hosted by Des Lynam alongside Terry Venables and Ally McCoist, will open with a new mix of Beautiful Day produced especially for the show.

A second, updated and extended show will be broadcast later on Saturday night, while there will be further highlights shown on Mondays during a football debate programme.

Beautiful Day, which was a worldwide hit on its release last September and secured a clutch of Grammy Awards earlier this year, was chosen by ITV football chiefs ahead of several other well known songs.

It's not the first time music by U2 has proved a footballing soundtrack - in June 1990 Larry Mullen co-wrote 'Put Em Under Pressure', the official song for Irelands World Cup soccer team.

The first programme of The Premiership will feature coverage from the games involving Liverpool and West Ham, and Middlesbrough and Arsenal on August 18.

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