Steve Bell (born January 7, 1975) is a retired American

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 ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played professionally in the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

and

USL A-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

. He is a play-by-play soccer broadcaster and sideline reporter for the Fox Soccer Channel.

Youth

Bell graduated from

Peters Township High School Peters Township High School is a public high school that is located in McMurray, Pennsylvania, United States. The current building was built in 2021. This new building was constructed just up the road from the old school, and was constructed at a c ...

. He attended the

Robert Morris University Robert Morris University (RMU) is a private university in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1921 and is named after Robert Morris, known as the "financier of the mericanrevolution." It enrolls nearly 5,000 students and offers 60 b ...

, playing on the men's soccer team from 1993 to 1996. Robert Morris won the Northeast Conference Regular Season title in 1995 with a perfect 8-0 conference record. Bell finished the season with 6 goals and 9 assists (2nd most in the Northeast Conference).

Professional

In 1997, Bell played for the

Washington Warthogs The Washington Warthogs were a professional indoor soccer team in the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) from 1994 to 1997. They played their home games in the USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland, an arena they shared with the Washington Bulle ...

of the

. He finished the season with two goals and three assists. That winter, he played as a trialist with the

Tampa Bay Mutiny Tampa Bay Mutiny was a professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. They were a charter member of Major League Soccer (MLS) and played from 1996 to 2001. They played their home games at Tampa Stadium and then at Raymond James Stadium. The ...

. On February 1, 1998, the Mutiny selected him in the second round (nineteenth overall) of the

1998 MLS Supplemental Draft The 1998 Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft was held on February 1, 1998, at the Airport Hilton in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Format Major League Soccer held a professional player combine in Fort Lauderdale the last week of January 1998. On Sat ...

. The Mutiny released him on June 10, 1998, to free a roster spot for Evans Wise. In February 1999, he signed with the expansion

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American so ...

of the

. He was a regular starter, but injuries led to his retirement. In 2000, he began working in sales in Akron, Ohio, but also worked as a part-time game announcer for Riverhounds’ games on Fox Sports Radio. In November 2003, Bell and his broadcasting partner, Chris Shovlin, won the March of Dimes Achievement in Radio Award for Best Play-by-Play.Riverhounds radio team honored
In 2006, Bell was named as the Voice of the

United Soccer Leagues United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

and was the play-by-play announcer for every game featured on

Fox Soccer Channel 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 r ...

during the season. In 2007, he was named as the host for the thirty-minute feature show, USL Breakaway on Fox Soccer. In addition to his Play-by-Play duties for the USL and the

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 30 ...

Game of the Week, he was also back in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

from 2008 to 2010 as a sideline reporter for Fox Soccer Channel.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Steve Living people 1975 births American soccer players American sports announcers Continental Indoor Soccer League players Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC players Robert Morris Colonials men's soccer players A-League (1995–2004) players Washington Warthogs players Tampa Bay Mutiny players Tampa Bay Mutiny draft picks Association football midfielders