Pompey matches to be streamed live to overseas fans

From the 2017-18 campaign’s kick off, the vast majority of the Blues’ league programme will be streamed over the internet.

For £110 a season, those outside the UK and Ireland will be granted access to live football action.

The project, titled iFollow, has been introduced by the Football League to ensure their product can be viewed across the world.

In general, it is estimated 270,000 Football League followers are based abroad, with 55 per cent located in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The existing Pompey Player will still be accessible to domestic users for £45 a season, offering commentary and extended highlights.

And chief executive Mark Catlin believes the iFollow live-streaming service can prove massively popular to those members of the Fratton faithful based abroad.

He said: ‘It looks like a fantastic product and one we are right behind.

‘We have a huge fan base on various continents and this will enable them to be able to view Pompey games live online.

‘Already we’ve had one well-known potential future owner expressing a lot of interest in it – and his family and friends are also really excited!

‘This is an EFL initiative, they have been working on it for a while and believe, as we do, that there is a demand from ex-pats living abroad or just fans in general who have adopted Pompey as their team.

‘It’s a massive market and hopefully one we can begin to generate a good revenue from moving forward in years to come.

‘As a club, we have opted into this.

‘We feel we have a very strong Stateside Pompey support base and believe there is a demand for fans abroad to watch our games. It’s a service we think will appeal to the supporters.

‘However, the Pompey Player will carry on as normal and still be available to domestic users, livestreaming the games via audio.

‘Initially, just one camera will be used by iFollow, but as we move forward and potential new investment comes in, there will be a great opportunity to expand it into a professional slick match-day experience for our non-UK supporters.’

Only those league matches not contained on other broadcasters’ schedules will be available on iFollow.

It means the Sky-televised visit of Rotherham on Sunday, September 3 (2.30pm) will not be included.