It takes a small platoon to call a World Cup tournament and Wednesday -- with only 43 days remaining until the start of the 2026 edition -- Fox Sports announced the play-by-play announcers, match analysts, reporters and rules analysts who will front the English-language coverage in the U.S.
For the third consecutive men’s World Cup, play-by-play announcer John Strong will be joined by former USMNT player Stu Holden as the network’s lead broadcast team. That group will call the U.S. games as well as the World Cup final among other major games. Acclaimed broadcaster Ian Darke returns to Fox to work with former USMNT player and match analyst Landon Donovan. That duo called matches together four years ago in Qatar and served as the network’s lead announcer team at UEFA EURO 2024
The other broadcast teams include Darren Fletcher (play-by-play) and Owen Hargreaves (analyst); Derek Rae (play-by-play) and Robert Green (analyst); Ian Crocker (play-by-play) and Danny Higginbotham (analyst); Jacqui Oatley (play-by-play) and Warren Barton (analyst); JP Dellacamera (play-by-play) and Lori Lindsey (analyst); Mark Scott (play-by-play) and Cobi Jones (analyst); and Tyler Terens (play-by-play) and Maurice Edu (analyst). Former referees Dr. Joe Machnik and Mark Clattenburg will work as Fox Sports’ rules analysts.
The reporters for the tournament include Jenny Taft (who is traditionally assigned to cover the U.S. National Team) Geoff Shreeves, Alex Aljoe, Katie Shanahan and Natalie Gedra. Tom Rinaldi will once again serve as the at-large feature correspondent.
Fox Sports said all nine commentary teams will travel across North America to call matches on-location from every one of the tournament’s 16 host cities. The studio talent, including newcomers Rebecca Lowe, Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimović, were previously announced.
The World Cup runs from Thursday, June 11 through Sunday, July 19. There are 104 tournament matches live across FOX (70) and FS1 (34) with every match streaming in 4K live and on-demand on Fox One.
