Kate Abdo (; born 8 September 1981,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
) is an English
sports broadcaster who currently hosts
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
coverage for
CBS Sports
CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS ...
and Fox Sports'
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...
Tonight.
Throughout her career she has worked internationally in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Germany and the United States.
Career
Abdo's broadcasting career started at the German international news network
Deutsche Welle in 2005, in which she completed an internship in the foreign language department. In 2006–07, she worked as a production assistant for ''Goal! The Bundesliga Magazine'', and at the same time was sports news presenter at Deutsche Welle until 2009, where she hosted sports coverage for their English and German-language services.
From there she moved to
CNN, where she anchored the "World Sports" program daily. She also hosted the "Inside Africa" feature show. Abdo left CNN to join Sky Sport News HD in Germany, where she was head anchor and the face of the network. Abdo joined to be a public face for the launch of the network and was also heavily involved in the development of the network's coverage, formats and programming.
From Germany, Abdo moved to the UK to join
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It h ...
, where she hosted the Pay Per View Boxing events, European Football, Transfer Deadline day and Sky Sports News. Sky Sports loaned Abdo to
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 ...
to host their coverage of the Women's World Cup in 2015, and Abdo later took up a permanent offer from the network to relocate to the US and host their Champions League, Europa League, World Cup, FA Cup, and Bundesliga coverage. On three occasions (2010, 2011 and 2013), she acted as presenter for the
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...
group stage draw in
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign
''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...
.
Since being at Fox, she has also now taken on the role of hosting Fox's Premier Boxing Champions, including a regular studio show "Inside PBC Boxing" and fight night coverage. After Fox lost the rights to Champions League to
Turner
Turner may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
*Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name
*One who uses a lathe for turnin ...
, Abdo also signed a deal to host Champions League coverage on
TNT from Turner's Atlanta studios.
Abdo is also well known for her role hosting the
FIFA Ballon d'Or and
Laureus World Sports Awards, both of which she hosted on numerous occasions. At the
2014 FIFA Ballon d'Or ceremony she spoke with contestants and guests in four languages. She was also a host for the
2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or.
After losing major soccer rights and the cancellation of ‘’Inside PBC’’, Abdo left Fox Sports. However, she has returned to Fox to host their nightly FIFA World Cup show in
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 ...
.
In 2020, Abdo returned to the UK to work for
CBS Sports
CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS ...
as the host of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League.
Abdo still works in the US for
DAZN
DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet.
The ...
's boxing coverage.
Personal life
Born in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, she studied at Christ the King School, Manchester, and
Withington Girls' School. She moved to Spain at the age of 17, learned Spanish, and took her high school diploma. A year later, she began a degree at the
University of Málaga in 2003 where she studied "Translation and Interpreting." Abdo also took time out of her studies to live in France and Germany. She also graduated from the
University of Salford
, caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford
, mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things"
, established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...
with a first-class B.A. (Hons) in European Languages. Having lived in Spain, France and Germany, Abdo is fluent in all three languages.
She married Ramtin Abdo (Abdolmajid), a German businessman and investor, in 2010. She is of Guyanese descent through her maternal grandmother. She is a
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
fan.
References
External links
CNN ProfileFox Sports Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdo, Kate
British women journalists
1981 births
Living people
CNN people
British sports journalists
University of Málaga alumni
Alumni of the University of Salford
Journalists from Manchester
Women sports journalists
Fox Sports 1 people
English people of Guyanese descent
21st-century British journalists