England will play Costa Rica in a pre-World Cup friendly as its final outing before the tournament, with viewing options across multiple markets: ITV1 will broadcast the match in the United Kingdom, with streaming available on ITVX and coverage on STV in Scotland.
Fans in the United States can watch on Fox Sports, or stream via FuboTV; Spanish-language viewers in the U.S. can tune in on ViX. Canadian audiences can find the match on FuboTV and DAZN, while Sky Sports is listed as the lead broadcaster in Mexico.
Costa Rica arrive off a difficult run of results: the team are ranked 51st in FIFA’s standings, lost 5–0 to Iran in March and were beaten 3–1 by Colombia last week. They also failed to qualify for the upcoming tournament after finishing behind Haiti and Honduras in their third round group, a reminder that England will face an opponent currently outside the qualification picture.
England go into the friendly expecting to fine-tune ahead of the World Cup, but there is reason for caution. Manager Thomas Tuchel described England’s showing against New Zealand in Tampa as “freestyle,” and Tuchel will be hopeful the side sharpens its shape. Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham both said difficult conditions and a sub-par playing surface reduced the efficiency of England’s possession play, an explanation that undercuts the clean rehearsal many viewers expected.
The friction is simple: England are broadly expected to win comfortably, but the New Zealand match showed they can be disjointed and wasteful when the surface or conditions limit their usual control. Costa Rica’s recent heavy defeats and low ranking suggest a mismatch on paper, yet the prospective stubbornness of an opposing defence and England’s own recent shortcomings mean the friendly could look more fragmented than the result implies.
Practically, the match serves as England’s last chance to tweak personnel and tactics before the tournament begins. Broadcasters listed above cover most English-speaking markets and Spanish services in the U.S.; ITVX and the terrestrial ITV1 feed are the primary outlets for viewers in Britain, while FuboTV and DAZN extend access in North America. Scotland viewers should check STV’s schedule for local coverage details.
What the schedules do not resolve are the tactical questions fans will want answered on the pitch: the coaching staff have not confirmed whether they will overhaul the starting XI after Tampa, and organisers have not released an official kickoff time or venue in the listings provided to broadcasters. Those gaps leave the fixture as both a final dress rehearsal and a sitting question mark.
The immediate takeaway for viewers is straightforward: pick the right service — ITV1/ITVX in the U.K., Fox Sports or FuboTV in the U.S., FuboTV or DAZN in Canada, Sky Sports in Mexico, and STV in Scotland — and expect England to treat the match as a practical tune-up, not a definitive statement; whether they change personnel or sharpen the style remains unanswered until the team sheet and match details are published.
