Ali Krieger will join ESPN as an analyst for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Pro Soccer Wire can reveal.
Krieger, a two-time World Cup champion with the U.S. women’s national team, will appear as a studio analyst on three shows: “SportsCenter,” “ESPN FC” and “Futbol Americas.”
It will be a return to ESPN for Krieger, who also worked for the network as an analyst two years ago during the Olympics. This time, she said she will be involved with ESPN through the end of 2023.
The 38-year-old has announced that she will retire following the 2023 NWSL season with NJ/NY Gotham FC, bringing an end to a decorated 17-year professional career.
In an interview with Pro Soccer Wire, Krieger said she is hopeful she will be able to do more television work when her playing career ends.
“I’m so excited to talk soccer,” she said. “Any time I can do that, it’s actually really enjoyable for me. So this is definitely something I see myself doing in the future.”
Krieger has already built up a varied resume of TV work despite still being an active player. She’s made appearances on NBC’s “Premier League Mornings Live,” analyzed U.S. men’s national team games for beIN Sports, and worked as an analyst and sideline reporter for Orlando City games while she was playing for the Orlando Pride.
She also said that being in the spotlight with the USWNT, with whom she earned 108 caps in her career, provides a certain kind of media training in and of itself.
“Being on the women’s national team, you’re just always in front of the camera. And you can kind of do it, or you can’t,” Krieger said.
“You’re thrown in there, you’re doing all these videos and interviews and throughout the years, I think I just got super comfortable in front of the camera.”
Looking ahead, Krieger said she would be interested in branching out beyond sports in her television career, looking to emulate another former athlete who has carved out a very visible role on TV beyond sports.
“I for sure see TV work in my future and I don’t know if that’s just doing sports, or that’s also maybe talk show-type stuff,” she said. “I think of like Michael Strahan and how he’s just put himself in different positions to get to where he is now. And that’s something that would be super incredible.
“That’s a goal of mine to just present not only sports, but just any type of media I would love to be involved with.”
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