David Basheer is an Australian

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

and presenter on television network SBS. He is best known for presenting

The World Game ''The World Game'' was an Australian football (soccer) television show broadcast on the SBS network, as well as a dedicated associated website. The show debuted in 2001 and was the only Australian TV programme dedicated to both football news ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

show on SBS from 2007 to 2018.

Early life and education

David was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, of Lebanese descent and was educated at

Prince Alfred College , motto_translation = Do Brave Deeds and Endure , established = 1869 , type = Independent, single-sex, day & boarding , headmaster = David Roberts , chaplain = Reverend ...

Career

David Basheer took over as host of The World Game following the departure of former host

Andrew Orsatti Andrew Orsatti (born 23 April 1975 in Sydney, Australia) is the Communications Director and Spokesman for football's international players' union FIFPro. Before his present role, Orsatti worked as a sports journalist and football commentator for ...

. Basheer, alongside Les Murray, hosted SBS's coverage of the European Championships in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. At

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

's showpiece event, the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, Basheer was SBS's lead commentator in the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

tournaments, becoming the first Australian to commentate a World Cup final in 2010 between Spain and the Netherlands. In September 2022, SBS confirmed that Basheer would return for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

alongside

Martin Tyler Martin Tyler (born 14 September 1945) is an English football commentator. He has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports since 1990, covering the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, as well as other domestic and international competitions. T ...

, Niav Owens,

Sarah Walsh Sarah Ann Walsh (born 11 January 1983) is a retired Australian soccer player who most recently captained Western Sydney Wanderers FC in Australia's W-League. She is a former member of the Australia women's national soccer team, the Matildas. ...

Mark Bosnich Mark John Bosnich (born 13 January 1972) is an Australian former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper, and sports pundit. He played in England for Premier League clubs Aston Villa, Manchester United and Chelsea. He also played in ...

, Richard Bayliss and former full-time SBS pundit

Craig Foster use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , nationality = , other_names = , siglum = , citizenship = , education = , ...

. At the World Cup, Basheer has commentated on

Australia's Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by a ...

matches, in addition to hosting SBS's 'Socceroos daily show' and the World Cup today show in the build-up for games. Since the 2010 edition of the tournament, Basheer has been accompanied with various co-commentators including

Kevin Muscat Kevin Vincent Muscat (born 7 August 1973) is an Australian former association football player and the current manager of Yokohama F. Marinos. As a player, he represented the Australia national team at international level winning 46 caps and sco ...

Mile Sterjovski Mile Sterjovski (born 27 May 1979) is an Australian former football (soccer) player. Sterjovski played mainly as a right winger or as a second striker, but also played as a left winger and central midfielder. He is currently the head coach of Mac ...

Craig Moore Craig Andrew Moore (born 12 December 1975) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. His 2006 FIFA World Cup profile describes him as being "tough-tackling and uncompromising but also calm and composed under p ...

and

. Basheer was formerly a host and commentator with ESPN Star Sports in Asia hosting and commentating UEFA Champions League, La Liga and Formula 1 as well as hosting the World Cup today show for the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. He was also a commentator for the ABC in the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

competition in the early 1990s, and previously delivered coverage for Fox Sport's

A-League Men A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

commentary feed in the early 2010s. Additionally, Basheer was a co-commentator on the world feed for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

football events, providing coverage for the official Olympics channel in the final between Brazil and Germany at the

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...

. In 2013, Basheer's football coverage moved exclusively to SBS, where he formed a commentary partnership with Michael Bridges for A-League Men games. From 2013 to 2017, SBS held the broadcasting rights for one A-League match per round, held on Friday nights, which was simulcast on Fox Sports. In 2014, he lent his voice to the commentary of the cricket video game

Don Bradman Cricket 14 ''Don Bradman Cricket 14'' (re-release retitled ''Don Bradman Cricket'') is a cricket video game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It was developed by Big Ant Studios and published by Tru Blu Entertain ...

. David also has extensive commentary experience covering major international events including 5 Olympic Games, 4 Commonwealth Games, Tour de France, World Championships of Athletics and several Grand Slam Tennis events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basheer, David Australian people of Lebanese descent Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Tennis commentators Sports commentators People educated at Prince Alfred College Living people Australian sports broadcasters Year of birth missing (living people)