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For Immediate Release
ESPN PR
May 28, 2008
860-766-2000

ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ABC
UEFA Euro 2008 English-Language Television Commentators

Leading English Premier League and England National Team TV Analyst Andy Gray Joins ESPN
Rece Davis Returns as Studio Host with Julie Foudy as Analyst

Leading English Premier League and England Men’s National Team television analyst Andy Gray will join ESPN’s veteran soccer insiders to provide English-language commentary for coverage of the UEFA European Football Championship 2008 Saturday, June 7 – Sunday, June 29, from eight cities in Austria and Switzerland.  Gray, who was honored in 1996 with The Royal Television Society’s “Sports Presenter of the Year,” will serve a dual role as both a game and studio analyst for the three-week soccer championship of Europe’s national teams.

Gray joins ESPN for Euro 2008 with 18 years of experience as one of the top soccer television personalities in England, having worked for London-based Sky Sports network since 1990.  His role has been pivotal in developing and growing the network’s soccer brand, and Gray is widely regarded as “The Voice of Football” by fans of English soccer in the United Kingdom and around the world.

Other ESPN and ABC commentators for Euro 2008:

  • After serving as play-by-play commentator for select matches in the 2006 Men’s and 2007 Women’s FIFA World Cups, Adrian Healey, who returns in the same role for Euro 2008;
  • Robbie Mustoe, former player for English Premier League’s (EPL) Middlesborough FC and the current Boston College men’s soccer assistant coach, will be an analyst for select matches;
  • Derek Rae, who has called ESPN’s English-language UEFA Champions League Finals for the past seven years, will provide play-by-play commentary;
  • Tommy Smyth, one of U.S. television’s most insightful international soccer analysts, will serve as a game and studio analyst.

Studio

  • Rece Davis, one of ESPN’s leading studio hosts, who made a successful debut as soccer studio host during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, returns as lead host for Euro 2008;
  • Julie Foudy, former U.S. Women’s National Team captain and analyst for FIFA World Cup events, will be studio analyst;
  • Rob Stone, host of MLS Cup broadcasts on ABC and ESPN2’s MLS Primetime Thursday, will host on select days.

Reporter

  • Phoenix, Ariz., bureau reporter Pedro Gomez, will provide reports from Austria and Switzerland throughout the championship.

 

“This team of commentators represents the best collection of seasoned and experienced English-language soccer minds anywhere in sports television,” said Tim Scanlan, ESPN vice president of event production.  “Their insight will elevate our coverage and deliver all the excitement surrounding the event for sports fans in the United States and beyond.”

For the first time in the United States, ESPN2, ESPN, ESPN Classic and ABC will combine to present all 31 Euro 2008 matches live – five on ESPN Classic, 17 on ESPN2 and seven on ESPN.  ABC will broadcast two matches – a quarterfinal contest on June 21 and the Euro 2008 title match Sunday, June 29 at 2:30 p.m. ET from the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna Austria.  ESPN Deportes will be the exclusive Spanish language home of the quadrennial tournament in the country and ESPN360.com will provide live online simulcast of all 29 non-ABC telecasts.  (Spanish-language commentators for Euro 2008 will be announced at a later date.)

With 10 of the 16 teams in Europe’s quadrennial soccer championship ranked among the top 15 teams in the FIFA World Rankings, the UEFA European Football Championship is one of the most prestigious and competitive tournaments among national soccer teams.  Teams representing the 16 nations compete in the Championship.  Of these, 14 earned a spot in the finals following a two-year qualification process among 50 UEFA member nations while the host nations – Austria and Switzerland – received automatic berths.  Since its inception in 1960, the competition is held every four years.  Greece won the last Championship – UEFA Euro 2004 – hosted by Portugal.

Please click here to access the Euro 2008 commentators’ bios.

Soccer on ESPN Inc.

ESPN and ABC are the U.S. English-language television homes of the Men’s and Women’s FIFA World Cup events through 2014, as ESPN acquired the rights for exclusive English-language telecasts of the FIFA World Cup™ and the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States in 2005, as well as the rights to the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009 and 2013 and other events.  In addition, ESPN provides extensive coverage of the UEFA Champions League and the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships.  With its acquisitions of the MLS and U.S. Soccer rights through 2014 in August 2006, and multimedia rights to the UEFA European Football Championship 2008 (Euro 2008) in December 2006, ESPN continues to offer the most comprehensive coverage of the world’s premier soccer events in the United States of America.

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