''World Cup Live'' was a soccer related news and analysis program that aired on

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%). Th ...

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 ...

and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

every four years during the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

. Lead commentators and specialists dissect worldwide matches both through a live feed, and after they have already been played. ''World Cup Live'' was created for the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

and continued through the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. It is planned to broadcast the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup as

has English-language rights. As for anchors, '' SportsCenter'' hosts Dave Revsine and Rece Davis worked with

while Brent Musburger hosted the

airings. Advertisements are not shown seeing as that play does not stop for two forty-five-minute half's, other than a halftime report, during which, commercials are aired. Logos are shown on the screen during broadcasting throughout the game and advertisements from sponsors can be seen before and after the game. Both pregame and post-game segments are included with a large number of games if time between matches permits, and are always aired fo
USMNT
games. World Cup Live has kept this basic format over the past couple tournaments and plans on continuing for the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

. The show ended after the 2014 FIFA World Cup when

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

acquired the World Cup rights beginning with the 2018 tournament.

2006 World Cup Broadcast

The shows debut came on June 9, 2006, for 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 ...

held in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It usually ran between 12:00 and 00:00 seeing as that was when most games were played and when most viewers would be tuned in. This time slot is known as the Trifecta. During the Trifecta, World Cup Live was shown on

and

, however; it was also aired at different times throughout the afternoon on

. They had a total of forty-seven telecasts, throughout the 2006 tournament. Thirty-two were nightly, twelve were in-between matches and three were pre-game issue. The 2006 edition offered several technological aspects that were meant to make it easier for non-specialists to understand the sciences of each game. A “Shot-Tracker” was used to trace the velocity and power of a kick. As far as critics were concerned, the broadcasts were seen as successful, however; soccer in America had not yet blossomed to its full potential and that was made obvious. Sponsor:

Vonage Vonage (, legal name Vonage Holdings Corp.) is an American cloud communications provider operating as a subsidiary of Ericsson. Headquartered in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, the organization was founded in 1998 as ''Min-X'' as a provider of resi ...

2010 World Cup Broadcast

World Cup Live later returned for the 2010 World Cup in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. The same format was brought back and specific segments and ideas such as the “Shot-Tracker” were also reused. New commentators from

and from global soccer programs such as

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. ...

and

Chris Fowler Chris Fowler (born ) is an American sports broadcaster for ESPN, who serves as the play-by-play announcer for ''Saturday Night Football'' on ABC and ESPN’s tennis coverage. He is also known for his work on '' College GameDay'', which he h ...

joined the broadcasting team. The use of the Internet also came into effect more so then in 2006. A live feed of the show was available to not only Americans but also a variety of other countries that relied on US broadcasting for their coverage.

2014 World Cup Broadcast

The 2014 FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil.

had the rights to broadcast the event in English. Therefore, World Cup Live covered all games. Matches were shown uninterrupted by commercials and were commentated and analyzed before, during, and after the match. Qualifying matches that have been shown were aired on

, although when the tournament started,

and

all broadcast games. The games were, once again, available for viewing on

’s website. Because becoming global has played such a large part in broadcasting World Cup Live, the internet has immensely been utilized by

and ABC.

Personalities

These are the personalities that regularly appear on the program.

Giorgio Chinaglia Giorgio Chinaglia (; 24 January 1947 – 1 April 2012) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales, and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to ...

(analyst, 2006)

(analyst, 2010–present)

Rece Davis Rece Davis (born }) is an American sports television journalist for ESPN/ ABC. Davis works as an anchor on '' SportsCenter'' and serves as host of various other programs on the network, including '' College GameDay'' football road show and ba ...

(host, 2006)

Efan Ekoku Efangwu Goziem Ekoku (born 8 June 1967) is a former Nigerian professional footballer, and sports commentator. As a player, he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Norwich City and Wimbledon and in Switzerland for Grassh ...

(analyst, 2010–present)

Julie Foudy Julie Maurine Foudy ( ; born January 23, 1971) is an American retired soccer midfielder, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1988 to 2004 ...

(analyst, 2006–present)

(host, 2010–present)

John Harkes John Andrew Harkes (born March 8, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who is the head coach of Greenville Triumph SC. A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Harkes was the first American ever to play in the ...

(analyst, 2006–present) Allen Hopkins (analyst, 2006–present)

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 ...

(analyst, 2006–present) Bob Ley (host, 2010–present)

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 ...

(analyst, 2010–present) Steve McManaman (analyst, 2010–present) Brent Musburger (host on ABC, 2006)

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all ...

(analyst, 2010–present) Dave Revsine (host, 2006)

Tommy Smyth Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

(analyst, 2006) Rob Stone (analyst, 2006–present) Mike Tirico (host, 2010–present)

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 competition ...

(analyst, 2006–present) Eric Wynalda (analyst, 2006)

Ian Darke

Lead commentator

has been a huge part of World Cup Live since its 2010 year. He has continued to work with

both throughout the World Cup and various other tournaments including th
USMNT
qualifying matches. His popularity has helped bring in viewers during the off-season and will continue to do so in 2014. He has stated before that he enjoys working with

and American broadcasting such as World Cup Live and also looks forward to contributing to commentating 2014's airings of the show. In past interviews, Darke has said that he respects America's ability to broadcast soccer and he enjoys helping it become a bigger part of American television. He will work with World Cup Live and

but strongly believes that he will continue to work more with his homeland: Great Britain."U.S. Soccer Q&A: Broadcaster Ian Darke." The Star-Ledger. NJ.com, http://www.nj.com/soccer-news/index.ssf/2011/03/soccer_qa_broadcaster_ian_dark.html.

References

{{Association football on television ESPN original programming ESPN2 original programming 2010s American television series 2006 American television series debuts Sports telecast series Association football television series 2006 FIFA World Cup American Broadcasting Company original programming ABC Sports