NBC Olympics TV and streaming schedule for July 25

When the U.S. women’s soccer team takes the field at the Olympics on Thursday, it will have been 353 days since last year’s crash out of the World Cup in the round of 16. It somehow feels that was both an eternity and an instant ago.

So much has happened since that fateful night in Melbourne, Australia: manager Vlatko Andonovski’s departure, new boss Emma Hayes’ arrival after a six-month wait, another influx of young talent, and another devastating knee injury that has kept star attacker Catarina Macario out of the Olympics.

Now, ready or not, here they are. The Americans play their tournament opener against Zambia on Thursday (3 p.m., USA Network, Universo, Peacock) in Nice, on France’s picturesque (and hot) southern coast.

It’s a fascinating game that will spotlight the Copper Queens’ electric strikers Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji. Both are in their first year in the NWSL — Banda on the Orlando Pride, Kundananji on Bay FC — and Banda is the league’s leading scorer with 12 goals in 12 games.

But U.S.-Zambia isn’t Thursday’s biggest game. That honor goes to Spain-Japan, one of two games at the very start of the action (11 a.m., USA Network, Telemundo 62, Peacock). Spain is the reigning World Cup champion and the sport’s best team, but no reigning World Cup winner has ever won gold at the next Olympics. And when La Roja and the Nadeshiko last met, Japan decked Spain 4-0 despite having just 23% of the possession.

You can get ready for kickoff with our guide to the top group stage games to watch, 10 players to know from around the world, a breakdown of the U.S. roster, and our prediction for the medal-winners.

NBC has lots of coverage on its broadcast and cable channels: the main NBC network, USA, CNBC, E!, and Golf Channel in English; and free-to-air Telemundo and cable channel Universo in Spanish.

There are also two extra cable channels created specifically for the Olympics called Paris Extra 1 and Paris Extra 2. All the big cable and satellite providers will have them, as well as YouTube TV, Sling, FuboTV, and Hulu Live.

This year, the traditional NBC prime time show doesn’t have live action. Instead, it has highlights of the day and storytelling features. The good news is NBC has live coverage from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Philadelphia time on weekdays and even more on weekends, with the big events shown live in the afternoon here.

Every event is available to stream live on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. You’ll have to log in with your pay-TV provider, whether cable, satellite, or streaming platforms including YouTube TV, FuboTV and Sling TV. If you aren’t a pay-TV subscriber, you can watch via the premium tier of Peacock, NBC’s online streaming service. A subscription starts at $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year.

The NBC Sports and Peacock apps are available for mobile devices, tablets, and connected-TV devices including Android TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Samsung TV, and more. There’s a FAQ page on NBC’s website here with more details.

If you have a Comcast Xfinity X1 cable box, just say “Olympics” into the remote’s voice control function, and everything will come up whether it’s on TV or online. Other cable and satellite TV providers may offer similar functions.

Here is the full event schedule for the entire Olympics, and here are live scores and results.

As a general rule, our schedules will include all live broadcasts on TV, but not tape-delayed broadcasts on cable channels. We’ll let you know what’s on NBC daytime and prime time shows whether they’re live or not.

» READ MORE: NBC hopes the Olympics’ return to Paris will get fans to return to watching

3 a.m.: Handball — Slovenia vs. Denmark women

5 a.m.: Handball — Netherlands vs. Angola women

8 a.m.: Rugby — Men’s pool round: Samoa vs. Kenya, Argentina vs. Australia, United States vs. Uruguay, Fiji vs. France, South Africa vs. Japan, New Zealand vs. Ireland

11 a.m.: Soccer — Spain vs. Japan women

1 p.m.: Handball — Hungary vs. France women

2:30 p.m.: Soccer — United States vs. Zambia women (pregame coverage starts at 2:30, kickoff is at 3 p.m.)

10 a.m.: Olympic News

11 a.m.: Soccer — Spain vs. Japan women

1 p.m.: Soccer — Nigeria vs. Brazil women

3 p.m.: Soccer — France vs. Colombia women

5 p.m.: Olympic News

11 a.m.: Soccer — Canada vs. New Zealand women

1 p.m.: Soccer — Germany vs. Australia women

3 p.m.: Soccer — United States vs. Zambia women