The USWNT plays on ABC for the first time in 19 years | Soccer on TV

Saturday, 9:30 a.m. (ESPN+)

Hoffenheim’s U.S. national team centerback Chris Richards is out injured, but perhaps U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter will tune in anyway to see if John Brooks plays for Wolfsburg.

Saturday, 2:45 p.m. (Paramount+)

Milan is back atop Serie A, but the lead is a little bit deceptive. Second-place Inter, one point back, has a game in hand. Milan should still be in first place after this game, as Salernitana is rooted in last.

Saturday, 3 p.m. (6ABC, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+)

Real Madrid fans have waited all season to see their team on ABC, and now they will get the chance. The home team is coming off a 1-0 loss at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16, in which Los Blancos played so defensively that even people who were expecting that style were surprised by the degree of it.

U.S. national team fans tuning in will hope to see Alavés’ Matt Miazga, but the odds are slim. He has been on the bench for the club’s last three La Liga games.

Saturday, 3 p.m. (beIN Sports, beIN Sports Español)

One of French soccer’s famous old rivalries should get a shot of new life this weekend. After Nantes narrowly escaped relegation last season, Les Canaris are ninth in Ligue 1 and could move as high as fifth with a win here. Ludovic Blas, a 24-year-old playmaker, will try to lead the way to an upset of PSG’s stars.

» READ MORE: The rest of this weekend's Ligue 1 schedule

Saturday, 3:10 p.m. (beIN Sports Xtra)

France opened the women’s tournament it’s hosting on Wednesday with a 5-0 win vs. Finland. Brazil started out with a 1-1 tie vs. the Netherlands. It will be a treat to see Brazilian stars Marta and Debinha duel with French counterparts Melvine Malard and Delphine Cascarino, and of course veteran centerback Wendie Renard.

Finland faces the Netherlands earlier Saturday (noon, beIN Sports Xtra).

Sunday 9 a.m. (USA Network, Telemundo)

Here’s another grand old soccer rivalry, this time in the Premier League. It’s the first time that Leeds gets to host the Red Devils in front of fans at Elland Road since returning to the top flight last season.

» READ MORE: The rest of this weekend's Premier League schedule

Sunday, 10:15 a.m. (ESPN+)

With Dani Alves suspended, American Sergiño Dest should start for Barcelona, and hopefully Yunus Musah will continue his streak of starts for Valencia.

Sunday, 10:15 a.m. (Paramount+)

This will be a fascinating test for England, which tied Canada, 1-1, in Thursday’s opening set of games at the Arnold Clark Cup. Spain, which played Germany to the same score, has brought a fleet of stars, including Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas, Jennifer Hermoso, Mariona Caldentey, and Mapi León. England’s Fran Kirby (Chelsea), Jill Scott (Aston Villa), Jordan Nobbs (Arsenal), and Lucy Bronze (Manchester City) will have their hands full.

Canada faces Germany in Sunday’s later game (3:15 p.m., Paramount+).

Sunday, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN+)

Dortmund’s Gio Reyna could play against Mönchengladbach’s Joe Scally, and no one is rooting for that more than Scally. The two 19-year-olds grew up together in New York City FC’s academy, and also played together on U.S. youth national teams. This is their first chance to face each other, after Reyna missed Mönchengladbach’s home game in September while out injured. And as an added bonus, both players’ families will be in attendance.

“We’ve been talking about it now for basically a year, since I came over to Germany,” Scally said this week. “We know we’re ready for the jersey change after the game and everything — he was at my house two days ago, so we were just talking about it. ... It’s going to be a really good game and it’s going to be great to see each other, both on the field.”

» READ MORE: The rest of this weekend's Bundesliga schedule

Sunday, noon (Paramount+)

After Milan makes the weekend’s opening statement in Serie A, Inter gets to respond. The home team will be favored, but keep an eye on Sassuolo’s Domenico Berardi — a former Juventus winger who has 10 goals and 11 assists in 23 games this season.

Sunday, 3 p.m. (6abc, PrendeTV)

For as much soccer as ABC has televised over many years, the U.S. women haven’t had a game on the network since 2003 — the group stage finale of that year’s World Cup, a 3-0 win over North Korea.

The Americans have been on free-to-air TV many times since then, whether NBC at the Olympics or Fox at World Cups, plus friendlies on both networks along the way. But all the games for which ESPN has held the rights have been on cable. It’s long since been time for that to end, and this weekend it will.

And there’s an added layer of drama: a young U.S. squad was just held to a scoreless tie by the Czech Republic on the She BelievesCup’s opening night.

The Czechs face Iceland in the second half of Sunday’s doubleheader in Carson, Calif. (6 p.m., ESPN3).

Sunday, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)

Spain’s Basque derby is always a great spectacle, and this will be even more of one. It’s the first time Athletic will host La Real with a full house since before the pandemic. It’s an unfortunate coincidence that this game is at the same time as U.S.-New Zealand, but at least you can go back and watch the replay later.

Sunday, 4 p.m. (Paramount+)

There was so much to jam into the last Soccer on TV column that we didn’t have room for the state of Concacaf’s Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign. Thirty teams across the region are in six groups of five, with the winner of each group moving to the final tournament that’s set for July in Monterrey, Mexico. The U.S. and Canada got automatic berths in the final stage.

Mexico is trying to get back to the World Cup for the first time since 2015. It has the talent — in fact, arguably its most talent ever: defenders Kenti Robles (Real Madrid) and Karina Rodríguez (Washington Spirit), midfielders María Sánchez (Houston Dash) and Lizbeth Ovalle (Tigres), and striker Katty Martínez (Club América).

Jamaica, led by Manchester City’s Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, made its World Cup debut in 2019 and grabbed the world’s attention. Unfortunately, the Reggae Girlz have lost momentum since then. But with the 2023 World Cup expanding to 32 teams, Concacaf will get four spots, and two places in the intercontinental playoffs. So the pathway is there for Jamaica to return to the spotlight.

» READ MORE: More Concacaf women's World Cup qualifers to watch

Monday, 1 p.m. (Paramount+)

Napoli, third in Serie A and two points back of Milan, goes last in the title race this weekend. Calglari is third-from-last and fighting to avoid relegation, but Napoli will be wary. The home team has good players in Keita Baldé and Kevin Strootman, and its manager is former longtime Napoli boss Walter Mazzari.

» READ MORE: The rest of this weekend's Serie A schedule