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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

that is broadcast daily over the streaming service

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

. 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. Founded by Bill Rasmussen in 1979, it owns and operates local and global cable and ...

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 newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' and in order to gain capital, effectively rescinded ownership of the site to his bosses in return for £40,000 and a revenue sharing scheme.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 conglomerate, the owner of the '' Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chair and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office ...

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 Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hear ...

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 ...

BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...

, ESPN Australia, 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, 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, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. The ...

studio are: Craig Burley,

Steve Nicol Stephen Nicol (born 11 December 1961) is a Scottish retired professional footballer who mainly played as a right back and occasionally played in other positions across defence and midfield. He played for the successful Liverpool teams of the 1 ...

, Shaka Hislop,

Kasey Keller Kasey C. Keller (born November 29, 1969) is an American former professional association football, soccer player who played in Europe and the United States, and was the starting Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for the United State ...

, and Alejandro Moreno. 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 4 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 contrib ...

, Gabriele Marcotti, Don Hutchison, Danny Higginbotham, 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 Numbe ...

, Sid Lowe, Ian Darke,

Derek Rae Derek Rae (born 9 April 1967) is a Scottish association football commentator and presenter. He 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 ...

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

, Nedum Onuoha,

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

, 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 for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Twellman is best kn ...

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

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

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 TNT Sports. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...

, Roberto Martínez,

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. Nicknamed "King Kev" or "Mighty Mouse", Keegan was recognised for his dribbling ability, as well as his finishing and presence in the air, and is regard ...

, Rebecca Lowe, Max Bretos,

Alexi Lalas Panayotis Alexander Lalas (; born June 1, 1970) is an American former soccer player who played mostly as a defender. Lalas is best known for his participation with the United States men's national soccer team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where ...

, Andrew Orsatti, and Darrell Currie. Also, the now late

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English Association football, football player and Coach (sport), coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley F.C., Chorley. He became a professional p ...

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, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

's preparations for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

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 (, ) 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 (which owns the ...

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