Free live Premier League/ Champions League/ FA Cup SMS updates

Note 2: This post is no longer current. Refer this page for an updated list of users.

Note: I am in no way affiliated with Twitter or any of their partners. Twitter just happens to be the perfect medium for implementing something like this for free. With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get down to the fun part.

For experienced Twitter users
Start following the user(s) of your choice. List of users at the end of this post.

For Twitter newbies

  1. Signup with Twitter, if you haven’t already. (What is Twitter?)
  2. If you wish to receive updates over SMS, verify your phone. Those outside the US, might want to check out this page as well.
  3. If you wish to receive updates over IM, verify your IM id. 24 Sep ’08: Seems Twitter has disabled IM support.
  4. Start “following” the user(s) of your choice. List of users at the end of this post. Remember to turn on the notifications.

For general help on getting started with Twitter, including how to temporarily disable these alerts if you wish, go through the official Twitter FAQ.


Possible questions
Q) How often is an update posted?
A) Every time a player is booked/ sent-off or a goal is scored in the competition.
4 Jan ’09: Added kick-off, half time and full time updates as per Darren’s request.

Q) How do I track the scores via RSS?
A) Use the feed at the respective pages linked below.

Q) What’s with a different Twitter user for each team?
A) You might want to track the progress of selected teams only. Follow your favourite teams and you’ll be notified every time an event happens in the match involving those teams.

For example, if you start following Liverpool and there’s a Liverpool vs Aston Villa match going on, you’ll be notified every time a player is booked/ sent-off from either of those teams or when a player from either side scores a goal in that match.

Q) What’s with “All teams” Twitter user?
A) If you start following this user, you’ll receive an update whenever a player is booked/ sent-off or a goal is scored in any of the matches in the competition.

For those interested but not smart enough to figure this out by now, that means in effect, every event in the competition is posted as an update in 3 different Twitter users – that of the home team, the away team and the all teams user.

Q) What do the updates look like?
A) (Sample alerts only, I know Andorra and Estonia don’t play in the EPL!)

73′ Lima (Andorra) booked. Live score Estonia 1-1 Andorra.
87′ Silva (Andorra) scores! Live score Estonia 2-1 Andorra.
90′ Zelinski (Estonia) sent-off! Live score Estonia 2-1 Andorra.

Disclaimer
I am facilitating this service free of cost on as-is basis. Though I have tested it and everything should be fine, if you do not receive the updates or receive multiple updates or your cell-phone/ IM goes up in smoke because of this (i am just kidding, that won’t happen), please do not try to hunt me down.

Constructive feedback is welcome.

Start following
Arsenal
Aston Villa
Birmingham City
Blackburn Rovers
Bolton Wanderers
Chelsea
Derby County
Everton
Fulham
Hull
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Middlesbrough
Newcastle United
Portsmouth
Reading
Stoke City
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
West Bromich Albion
West Ham United
Wigan Athletic


Premier League – All teams


Champions League – All teams


FA Cup – All teams


[tags]EPL, Premier League, Football, Soccer, Twitter, Live, Scores, FA, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea, Derby County, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Portsmouth, Reading, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Wigan Athletic, SMS, IM, RSS, Sports, Champions League, CL, UCL, FA Cup[/tags]

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