Sky Sports launch new channel dedicated to showing 600 live European football matches per season

Sky Sports 5 becomes the seventh channel and includes exclusive coverage of Eredivisie

Gareth Bale celebrates after scoring the vital goal for Real Madrid (GETTY IMAGES)

Sky Sports have launched a new channel dedicated to European football, which will screen up to 600 live matches next season.

Sky Sports 5 becomes the brand’s seventh channel and will show qualifiers for Euro 2016, UEFA Champions League, La Liga, the Coppa Italia and Copa del Rey, plus other European football shows including Revista De La Liga and Champions League Weekly.

Sky also announced they will broadcast exclusive coverage of Holland’s Eredivisie, after signing a four-year deal to show the likes of Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyernoord.

The channel can be activated by Sky customers from 12 June and will go live on 12 August.

Sky Sports 5 is just their second channel launched since 1999, the other being Sky Sports F1 two years ago.

The battle between BT Sports and Sky Sports continues to rage, after BT's huge £897m deal to capture exclusive rights to European club football.

“Sky Sports 5 takes our unrivalled live football coverage to the next level offering more European football than ever before,' said Sky Sports' managing director, Barney Francis.