''Soccer Central'' was a

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 ...

news program that was broadcast by the Canadian sports channel

Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then ...

. The program was first introduced on August 17, 2012 as ''Fox Soccer News''; the program was originally produced for U.S. cable channel

Fox Soccer Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports World before that) was an American television specialty channel specializing in soccer, owned by Fox Corporation, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australian ...

as a replacement for the ''

Fox Soccer Report ''Fox Soccer Report'' was Fox Soccer's flagship studio program. The show was produced by Fox Sports World Canada, a Canadian international sports network owned by Shaw Media (parent of Global Television Network), from CKND-TV's studios in Winni ...

'', which was produced out of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

by the now-defunct

Fox Sports World Canada Fox Sports World Canada was a Canadian subscription television channel. The channel's programming primarily featured soccer and covered other world sports such as rugby. Although its original Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commis ...

in a similar arrangement. With the launch of

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...

, ''Fox Soccer News'' was supplanted by the in-house production '' Fox Soccer Daily'', which premiered on August 19, 2013. Consequently, ''Fox Soccer News'' was re-branded as ''Soccer Central'' (the original name of Sportsnet's soccer pre-game show, which had been renamed '' Soccer Central Matchday''). The show aired as a half an hour show from Monday through Friday (Monday-Thursday known as ''Soccer Central'' and Friday known as ''The Soccer Central Roundtable'') and an hour show (''Soccer Central Weekend Review'') on Sunday.

Anchors

The program had 2 co-anchors each night, rotating among

Brendan Dunlop Brendan Dunlop is a Canadian sportscaster known for his anchoring and hosting duties on The Score and Sportsnet television networks. Dunlop was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario where he graduated from Catholic Central High School. Dunlop grew ...

, James Sharman (both of whom previously hosted soccer-related programs on The Score before its purchase by Rogers), Ben Ennis and Sarah Davis. Regularly appearing analysts include former Scottish amateur footballer

Bobby McMahon Robert McMahon is a Scottish association football, football analyst for Sportsnet. He appears exclusively on ''Soccer Central''. Born in Dundee, McMahon played football at the school and youth level, before going on to play for Tayport F.C., T ...

, retired English footballer

Danny Dichio Daniele Salvatore Ernest Dichio (born 19 October 1974) is an English retired professional footballer and coach. Dichio scored the first goal in Toronto FC history against the Chicago Fire on 12 May 2007. Later in that same game he became the ...

, Dutch soccer coach

Thomas Rongen Thomas Eddy Rongen (born 31 October 1956) is a Dutch American football coach who has spent the majority of his playing and coaching career in the United States. In December 2016, he was named Chief Scout of the United States Men's National Team. ...

, and former professional soccer player Lloyd Barker. Guest hosts have included

Brad Fay Brad Fay (born June 16, 1964) is a Canadian sportscaster for Rogers Sportsnet. Fay began his sportscasting career in 1997 as a weekend sports anchor for BCTV and has also worked in the radio industry calling junior hockey games. He co-hosted th ...

and

Gene Principe Eugenio Principe (born February 26, 1967) is a Canadian sports reporter and broadcaster, who is the current host of Edmonton Oilers broadcasts on Sportsnet. He is best known for his frequent use of puns and props during his pre-game segments. B ...

. Upon its re-formatting as ''Soccer Central'', Dunlop and Sharmen both do 2-3 solo shows, and co-anchor the Sunday Weekend Review show.

External links

Sportsnet.ca/soccer

References

Association football television series 2010s Canadian sports television series 2012 Canadian television series debuts Soccer on Canadian television Television shows filmed in Toronto Sportsnet shows {{Canada-sport-tv-prog-stub