ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. 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 Greg, at that time, worked for the '' Daily Mail'' and in order to gain capital, effectively rescinded ownership of the site to his bosses in return for £40,000 and a revenue sharing scheme.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 i ...

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 ...

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BT Sport BT Sport is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe and BT Group, they first launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Bro ...

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, th ...

studio are: Craig Burley,

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 ...

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, 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,

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,

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 ...

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, and Santiago Solari.

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 contribute to MLS segments. Former presenters and pundits include: Raphael Honigstein, James Horncastle,

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, Kevin Keegan, Rebecca Lowe, Max Bretos,

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 ...

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, 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 ESPN+, 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 ...

's preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup 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 ...

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