La Liga soccer will return to ESPN as the network announced a new long-term deal with Spain’s La Liga soccer league. 

The eight-year deal calls for all 380 La Liga league matches per season to air across ESPN, ESPN Plus, ABC and ESPN Deportes in both English and Spanish beginning in August, according to network officials. The games currently air on beIN Sports. 

La Liga content is no stranger to ESPN: ESPN Deportes aired La Liga games as late as 2012.

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a conference call Friday to announce the deal that the agreement helps solidify streaming service ESPN Plus’ appeal to soccer fans. Along with streaming all 380 La Liga league games, ESPN Plus also offers soccer action from such leagues as Major League Soccer, German Bundesliga, Copa del Rey, and English Football League.  

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The service will also feature shoulder La Liga programming -- including magazine shows, weekly and season previews and highlight specials -- in both English and Spanish. 

“La Liga is one of the best and most popular sports leagues in the world,” Pitaro said. “We’ve been very focused on growing our Spanish language content offerings … and La Liga will play a big part in that going forward.” 

ESPN EVP of programming and original content Burke Magnus added that the network will continue to look to acquire national and international soccer content going forward. “We’re always on the hunt for premium content that adds vale, so we’ll take them as they come,” he said. “For today, we couldn’t be more excited to get perhaps the best league in the world for the next eight years.” 

In addition to the usual bragging rights, the top spot in La Liga is on the line at El Clasico from Camp Nou on Sunday.

FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi will engage rival Real Madrid at 4 p.m. (ET), with beIN Sports, beIN Sports en Espanol and beIn Connect covering the action. The hosts lead their archrivals, which won the first encounter this season on Oct. 25, 2014 by a 3-1 count, including a penalty kick tally by Ballan D’or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ahead of Sunday’s match, Barcelona, whose marker last October came courtesy of Brazilian international Neymar, has risen past Madrid atop the La Liga table, 65 points to 64, each having played 27 matches.  

On the English-language side of the mic, Ray Hudson and Phil Schoen will call the action from Barcelona, while Jose Hernandez and Eduardo Biscayart have the honors in Spanish..

Pregame analysis and match day predictions can be found on The Express Pre-Game Show, beginning at 2 p.m. for both the English and Spanish networks.  A special postgame edition of The Express Xtra will follow the match and provide an in-depth look at all the highlights, goals, and controversial plays from the match.

  Special guests include former Barcelona and Netherlands superstar Patrick Kluivert, and Michel Salgado, who starred for Real Madrid and Spain.

beIN SPORTS has reached a distribution deal with direct-to-home satellite-TV service Shaw Direct that makes the sports programmer available on Channel 118 (Classic) and 618 (Advanced). The network is being carried to all Shaw Direct customers now during a free preview until March 15.

Shaw Direct, owned by cable provider Shaw Communications, has more than 900,000 subscribers across Canada, according to its web site.

beIN SPORTS live-game programming includes such top soccer leagues as Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, England’s Football Championship and the 2015 Copa America tournament.

“We are excited to bring Canadian sports fans the best live sporting action from around the globe along with all the highlights and expert analysis,” Yousef Al-Obaidliy, Deputy CEO of beIN Media Group, said in a release. “With beIN SPORTS’ premium international sporting content, Shaw Direct customers can rely on us to deliver the highest quality coverage presented in a dynamic and relevant manner.”

beIN SPORTS is also carried in Canada by Bell TV, Eastlink, MTS, Rogers, Telus and Videotron.