Bundesliga champions FC Bayern Munich are up against La Liga’s Real Madrid tonight for the 2016 International Champions Cup, and providing you have a Gear VR, you can watch it livestreaming in virtual reality starting August 3rd at 7:30 PM ET (click for local time).

Being able to go anywhere and experience anything is one of the advertised perks of virtual reality, and while that’s not exactly true just yet, NextVR is inching ever closer with their coverage of live sporting events like this year’s ICC, the annual ‘friendly’ soccer tournament that sees some of the biggest clubs play around the world.

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NextVR’s stereoscopic cameras at an NBA game

NextVR’s cameras will capture the Bayern Munich v. Real Madrid match in wide-FOV stereoscopic view from multiple angles, allowing viewers a vantage point from the stands, along the sidelines, midfield and behind the goal.

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See Also: Live Boxing Match Shows Us the Sweet Spot for Virtual Reality Broadcasting

The virtual reality broadcast will be available free in the ICC channel on the NextVR app to what the company calls a “select worldwide audience.” Because sporting events are always licensed differently in different countries, make sure you have access to the ICC channel before dedicating your night/morning/afternoon to the match.

Match highlights from the Liverpool vs. Chelsea and Real Madrid vs. Chelsea—two previous matches covered by NextVR cameras—can currently be viewed through the app as well.

NextVR has recently concentrated on streaming live sporting events such as US Open golf, NBA basketball, and Premier Boxing Champions to name a few, but also had their cameras pointed at U.S. political events such as both Democratic and Republican presidential nominee debates. We expect to see more livestreamed sports on the platform thanks to the company’s 5-year partnership with FOX Sports.

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How to Watch Tonight’s Match

  • Dock your phone in the Gear VR headset and open Oculus Home.
  • Download and open the NextVR app.
  • NextVR features a NEW dedicated ICC channel, along with MLB, FOX Sports, NBA and more.
  • NextVR recommends you connect to wi-fi when downloading or streaming content.

Disclosure:​ At the time of writing, Next VR is running advertisements on Road to VR.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Sch@dows

    That’s just 3D, no VR. Those camera can film à 360° so you can’t move your head and look where you want.

    • Milosx

      3D – stereo in a headset is a VR if you can interact at least a bit, and since they wrote “wide-FOV” I guess you can move your hear few degrees in every direction (Like you are wearing a hoodie on stadium :) . Also 360 photos (monoscopic included) in HMD are also VR. If you are not in physical reality, it is virtual reality. The question is where we draw a line. I would say old HMDs with 2 screens in front of your eyes for just watching movies are not VR.

      • DiGiCT Ltd

        The wide FOV is just higher as the HMD, in that way when you move your head you actualy change your lower fov over the higher fov source, not 360 degree but 2d only.
        It is the same as you would zoom into a picture you get those side bars to scroll up and down left and right to see the total picture.
        It is that simple actually.
        Video stays video, just different in recording but still video.
        In VR you can see it is video and it can look cool but you still see and feel its fake as there is no interaction possible with the envirionment.

        In a way its not VR still unless you add some 3d content to it, resulting in a blend product.

        True VR in my opinion as a DEV is 100% 3D objects environment, in which i still can accept a skybox as background to be true VR.
        But that my own opinion ofcourse ;-)

  • Get Schwifty!

    Why the #$%! is this not already available for Rift and Vive? I am glad the Gears are around but it’s a bit nutty content like this and say Netflix have no representation directly for the higher platforms.

    • Milosx

      They say it will be “available soon”. My guess that regular folks will get the Gear sooner than the Vive. I know several people who got Gear VR with a S7 purchase and they did not even try it. This is to give them a bit of a push.
      I think you can watch Netflix in Big Screen or similar steam apps.

      • DiGiCT Ltd

        Mobile VR is more fit for video as it lacks game performance for high end game graphics.
        It is also cheaper in general as its not an HMD only but also an phone.

        I also predict most “common” users will be using the phone as the VR and AR for them is just an extra feature they sometimes like to use.

        Eventually some of those users want to have an better experience and will invest their money into high end VR.

        Hardcore gamers will go for Rift/Vive as you can get the best graphics out of it and the PC part is easy up-gradable to get even more out of it.

        Video will be the most used VR on mobile I think eventually.

  • Mobeen Younas