Darke and Donovan will team up after the former called the latter’s iconic 2010 World Cup goal
Fox Sports has unveiled its full broadcast team for the 2022 World Cup, which includes a broadcast-booth reunion of Ian Darke and Landon Donovan.
Darke will make his Fox Sports debut, though it will be the eighth career World Cup for the venerable British commentator. Donovan, meanwhile, will be make his broadcast booth debut after previously working for Fox as a studio analyst.
Donovan and Darke will be forever linked together after the former’s iconic goal against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup was soundtracked by the latter’s iconic call.
“It’s a pretty neat pairing with all the history those two have together,” lead host Rob Stone told Pro Soccer Wire. “It’s always great to have two legends working with you. Ian has been doing this for a long, long time and is just one of the classiest voices in the game. And I think Landon right now still goes down at least in my book as the greatest U.S. men’s player ever, and to have somebody of that caliber and the things he’s witnessed and done on this stage as part of our team only makes us stronger.”
USMNT great Clint Dempsey and USWNT icon Carli Lloyd will also be making their World Cup debuts for Fox, as the pair will serve as studio analysts.
Speaking about Dempsey and Lloyd, lead studio analyst Alexi Lalas told Pro Soccer Wire: “It’s not just because they are big names, but because they’re good, and because they’re opinionated. And that’s what we want. We want it to be discussions and we want it to be debates and we want people that are knowledgeable and have a history, and come to it with their own ideas.”
As they did during the 2018 World Cup, John Strong and Stuart Holden will anchor the lead broadcast booth for Fox, putting the pair in line to call the final as well as several other marquee matches.
Aside from Donovan-Darke and Strong-Holden, the other three announcer duos will be JP Dellacamera and Cobi Jones, Derek Rae and Aly Wagner, and Jacqui Oatley and Warren Barton.
Stone will once again be the lead host, while Kate Abdo will also handle hosting duties, including for the network’s “FIFA World Cup Tonight” recap show.
As Fox previously announced, former NFL star Chad Johnson will join the network’s World Cup coverage as an analyst on “FIFA World Cup Tonight.”
Lalas and Stone are looking forward to having Johnson on the team in spite of, and perhaps even because of, his lack of a soccer background.
“It goes back to a responsibility of finding interesting and entertaining and even provocative voices out there that are part of the game,” Lalas said. “We welcomed him with open arms because he thinks about the game in an interesting way. He has a history in the game, whether people know it or not, and he’s incredibly entertaining.”
Stone added: “Sometimes, it’s really beneficial to have that outside perspective as well. Yes, the guy cares about the game and loves the game but he’s going to be looking at it much more like a fan, like, ‘What did I just see and why did that happen?'”
Fox announcers for World Cup 2022
Play-by-Play/Match Analyst
John Strong and Stu Holden
JP Dellacamera and Cobi Jones
Derek Rae and Aly Wagner
Ian Darke and Landon Donovan
Jacqui Oatley and Warren Barton
Studio Analysts
Alexi Lalas
Carli Lloyd
Chad Johnson
Clint Dempsey
Eniola Aluko
Kelly Smith
Maurice Edu
Studio Hosts
Rob Stone
Kate Abdo
Reporters
Jenny Taft
Rodolfo Landeros
Geoff Shreeves
Feature Correspondent
Tom Rinaldi
Rules Analyst
Dr. Joe Machnik
Mark Clattenburg
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