ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

that is broadcast daily over the streaming service

ESPN+ ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by

ESPN Inc. ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. For management and financial reporting purposes, the company is the main entity wit ...

Originally established in 1995 as SoccerNet, the website was acquired by ESPN in 1999. The domain ESPNFC.com now redirects to soccer news coverage on ESPN.com.

History

Originally titled SoccerNet, the website was established by Greg Hadfield and his then-teenage son Tom in 1995, initially providing live score updates, tables and news articles. Greg, at that time, worked for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' and in order to gain capital, effectively rescinded ownership of the site to his bosses in return for £40,000 and a revenue sharing scheme. In 1999, Buena Vista Internet Group (BVIG) acquired a controlling interest of 60 percent in SoccerNet from the

Daily Mail and General Trust Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media company, the owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office is ...

for £15M.

Television program

ESPN eventually launched a U.S. television studio program on

ESPNews ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

BT Sport BT Sport is a group of broadcasting of sports events, pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, Warner Bros. Dis ...

ESPN Australia ESPN Australia is the Australian division of ESPN, part of the ESPN International grouping. It is offered in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. Initially, ESPN was known as Sports ESPN on the Optus Vision cable t ...

, and TSN dedicated to soccer, also known as ''ESPN FC''. The program originally aired on weekday evenings at 6 PM, with a weekly recap show airs on Sunday nights. The program has a mostly British cast. Dan Thomas works as the lead host with

Adrian Healey Adrian Healey is an English football commentator, currently working with MLS Season Pass broadcasts on Apple TV. He is a veteran football commentator in the U.S., working for networks such as ESPN; he was part of the ESPN commentary team in S ...

, Sebastian Salazar, and Kay Murray filling in. The studio analysts at the

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2020 census, the ...

studio are:

Craig Burley Craig William Burley (born 24 September 1971) is a Scottish former professional footballer and sports television pundit and co-commentator for ESPN. As a player he was a midfielder from 1989 until 2004, notably playing in the Premier League for ...

Steve Nicol ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

Shaka Hislop Neil Shaka Hislop CM (born 22 February 1969) is a retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in England, he played for them at under-21 level before representing Trinidad and Tobago at senior international level. The majority of his ...

Kasey Keller Kasey C. Keller (born November 29, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played in Europe and the United States, as well as being the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. national team. He is a four-time FIFA World Cup partici ...

, and

Alejandro Moreno Alejandro Enrique Moreno Riera (born July 8, 1979) is a Venezuelan former footballer who played as a forward, and who is currently a television commentator for ESPN FC, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Latin America. Moreno won three MLS Cups during hi ...

. The rest of the crew joins from London and Europe, and on occasion, in the studio, and includes: Steve McManaman, Stewart Robson,

Julien Laurens Julien Laurens (born 4th October 1980) is a French football journalist and broadcaster based in London. Career Laurens works for the French newspaper Le Parisien, and has featured regularly on BT Sport Talksport and ESPN as well as contribut ...

Gabriele Marcotti Gabriele Marcotti (born 28 July 1973) is an Italian sports journalist, sports author, and radio-television presenter. Born in Italy and now based in London, he was raised in the United States (Chicago and New York), Poland, Germany and Japan. He ...

Don Hutchison Donald Hutchison (born 9 May 1971) is a former professional footballer. Hutchison is a football television pundit and commentator for Talksport and ESPN FC. As a player, Hutchison was a midfielder, who played in the Premier League for Liverpoo ...

Danny Higginbotham Daniel John Higginbotham (born 29 December 1978) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender. Born in Manchester, England, he represented Gibraltar in international football. Higginbotham started his career in the academy of ...

, Frank Leboeuf,

Jan Aage Fjortoft Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

Sid Lowe Simon James "Sid" Lowe (born 21 June 1976) is an English columnist and journalist. Born in Archway, London, and based in Madrid, he covers Spanish football for many publications, websites, television channels, radio stations, and football-relat ...

Ian Darke Ian Darke (born 1954) is an English association football and boxing commentator who currently works for ESPN and BT Sport. Darke was previously one of Sky's "Big Four" football commentators alongside Martin Tyler, Alan Parry and Rob Hawthorne. ...

Derek Rae Derek Rae (born 1967) is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter who currently works for ESPN and ABC in the United States for the English-language coverages of Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, and La Liga and Deutsche Fußball Liga for ...

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...

Alessandro Del Piero Alessandro Del Piero (; born 9 November 1974) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a deep-lying forward, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. Since 2015, he has worked as a pundit fo ...

, and

Santiago Solari Santiago Hernán Solari Poggio (born 7 October 1976) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a left midfielder. He spent the better part of his 16-year professional career in Spain, amassing La Liga total ...

Taylor Twellman Taylor Timothy Twellman (born February 29, 1980) is an American former soccer player who played professionally from 1999 to 2010. He now works in the media as a soccer television commentator. Twellman is best known for his play with the New Eng ...

, and

Herculez Gomez Herculez Gomez (born April 6, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He currently works as a commentator in both English and Spanish for ESPN. Early life Gomez, the oldest of five children, was born in ...

contribute to MLS segments. Former presenters and pundits include:

Raphael Honigstein Raphael Honigstein (born 1973) is a German journalist and author. Early life Honigstein was born in Bavaria to a Jewish family. In 1993, Honigstein moved from Munich to London. He studied law before becoming a journalist. Journalism career In the ...

James Horncastle James Horncastle is an English sportswriter and a broadcaster. Specialising in European and Italian football, Horncastle frequently covers football for BT Sport. Horncastle speaks fluent Italian having formerly lived in Rome. Horncastle started ...

Martin Keown Martin Raymond Keown (; born 24 July 1966) is an English football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a defender from 1984 to 2005, notably in the Premier League for Arsenal, where he made over 400 appearances for the club a ...

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and BT Sport. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...

Roberto Martínez Roberto Martínez Montoliu (born 13 July 1973) is a Spanish football coach and former professional player, currently as head coach of the Portugal national team. Martínez played as a defensive midfielder and began his career at Real Zaragoza ...

, Kevin Keegan,

Rebecca Lowe Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

Max Bretos Maximiliano Bretos is an American sports reporter and sports announcer, who is currently the play-by-play announcer for MLS broadcasts on Apple TV. He formerly hosted ESPN Major League Soccer and SportsCenter for ESPN as well as being the lead a ...

Alexi Lalas Panayotis Alexander "Alexi" Lalas ( el, Αλέξης Λάλας; born June 1, 1970) is an American retired soccer player who played mostly as a defender. Lalas is best known for his participation with the United States men's national soccer te ...

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 ...

, and

Darrell Currie Darrell Currie (born 1982) is a Scottish television presenter and journalist. He is currently a presenter and touchline reporter for BT Sport, where he covers English and Scottish football. He also is part of the ESPN football coverage team. ...

. Also, the now late

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English football player and coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley. He became a professional player in 1973 with Plymouth Argyle, where he scored ...

used to work as a studio analyst. ESPN FC also has additional programming like ''The Gab and Juls Podcast'', which has become a TV programme, and the '' John Dykes Show''. In April 2018, the program moved exclusively to the supplemental subscription service

, though occasional specials will still air on ESPN2.

Controversy

In November 2013, a favorable story about

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

's preparations 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 ...

on the site was met with backlash for author Phil Ball's dismissal of allegations of abuses toward migrant workers by the Qatari government. ESPN later apologized and removed the story from the website, saying that it did not meet their "journalistic standards".

References

External links

* (US edition, redirect from ) * (Global edition) * (UK edition) * (Australia edition) * (Mexico edition, in Spanish) * (

ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ''ESPN Sports'') is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (whi ...

edition, in Spanish) {{ESPN Internet properties established in 1995 Fc Association football websites