Announcers & Analysts Bring Wide-Ranging On-Air & On-Field Experience
To World’s Biggest Women’s Sports Event
Dellacamera, Whitehill & DiCicco Draw U.S. Matches in Group Stage
New York – FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2015 is set to begin in exactly 24 days, and today FOX Sports unveils the five gifted broadcast teams set to call game action during the network’s unprecedented coverage from Canada beginning Saturday, June 6. The announcement was made today by David Neal, FIFA Women’s World Cup on FOX Executive Producer.
The broadcast teams FOX Sports has developed to call the Women’s World Cup mix many of the top play-by-play voices in American soccer with former standout players on the international stage. Below are the teams listed in alphabetical order by play-by-play announcer (left):
Glenn Davis & Christine Latham
JP Dellacamera, Cat Whitehill & Tony DiCicco
Jenn Hildreth & Kyndra de St. Aubin
Justin Kutcher & Aly Wagner
John Strong & Danielle Slaton
In addition, Angela Hucles, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who helped the U.S. Women’s National Team to a pair of third-place Women’s World Cup finishes as a midfielder, is also assigned to analyze games in the tournament.
Together the play-by-play announcers have combined broadcasting experience spanning 15 World Cups and four Olympic Games, and boast innumerable seasons calling international and domestic club soccer competitions and big-game assignments. The game analysts, former international soccer stars and the winningest coach in U.S. international history, have extensive on-field experience, playing or coaching at the highest level. The group has a combined for six Olympic Gold medals, eight World Cup appearances, one World Cup championship, plus a host of domestic club soccer victories.
“Our dynamic group of game commentators brings world-class knowledge and diverse experience to our coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup,” Neal said. “Each has their own unique style and perspective on the game and as a group they are ideally suited to our unprecedented coverage of the world’s most important women’s sports event.”
The U.S. Women’s National Team has three matches scheduled in the Group Stage, and Dellacamera, Whitehill and DiCicco call each one. The first is Monday, June 8 in Winnipeg against Australia (FOX Sports 1, 7:30 PM ET); followed by Friday June 12 versus Sweden, also in Winnipeg (FOX, 8:00 PM ET); and Tuesday, June 16 against Nigeria in Vancouver (FOX, 8:00 PM ET. Remaining Group Stage network and broadcast team assignments are coming at a later date. Dellacamera, Whitehill and DiCicco called last weekend’s 3-0 U.S. Send-Off Series victory over Ireland, and also call this Sunday’s (3/17) match in Los Angeles against Mexico. Pre-match coverage begins at 9:00 PM ET with action beginning at 9:30 PM ET
FOX Sports recently announced the studio analysts headlining the network’s pregame, halftime and postgame coverage of the Women’s World Cup, as well as live hits into FOX Sports 1 signature programs AMERICA’S PREGAME and FOX SPORTS LIVE. Alexi Lalas, Heather Mitts, Eric Wynalda, Leslie Osborne, Angela Hucles, Kelly Smith, Ariane Hingst, Monica Gonzalez, Christine Latham and Dr. Joe Machnik are joined by hosts Kate Abdo and Rob Stone from a brand-new state-of-the-art studio in Vancouver beginning Thursday, June 4.
Thumbnail biographies on each play-by-play announcer and analyst, in alphabetical order by play-by-play announcer, are below:
Glenn Davis is a seasoned soccer announcer, having called FIFA World Cup matches on television and radio for ESPN; the Olympics for NBC; and MLS matches on several national and local channels. Davis has lent his voice to FOX Sports’ coverage of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), CONCACAF Champions League and U.S. Men’s Youth National Teams.
Christine Latham played with the Canadian Women’s National Team for over a decade, from 1995 to 2006, as a striker, amassing 15 goals in 49 games. She scored a team-high three goals in six games during the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup, helping Canada to the semifinals – the country’s best World Cup showing. Latham has also called 2014 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament games for FOX Sports.
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JP Dellacamera, one of the pioneering voices of American soccer, brings decades of experience covering 12 FIFA World Cups (eight men’s, four women’s). With FOX Sports, he calls matches for Major League Soccer, CONCACAF Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches.
Cat Whitehill was a member of the USWNT for a decade, from 2000 to 2010, and played in the 2003 and 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cups and 2004 Olympics, where she helped Team USA to a gold medal. She has called previous USWNT games for FOX Sports, including the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament and served as an analyst for ESPN’s coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany.
Tony DiCicco is a former USWNT head coach and guided the squad to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta and the squad’s last Women’s World Cup title in 1999. DiCicco’s 103 wins with the USWNT is the highest total is U.S. Soccer history. DiCicco has called the 2000 Olympics for NBC and the 2003, 2007 and 2011 Women’s World Cups for ESPN before calling several USWNT games for FOX Sports, including the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament.
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Jenn Hildreth is a former three-sport collegiate athlete with an extensive background in soccer. She has served as a play-by-play and color analyst on college and professional soccer, including Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) Sundays on FOX Soccer Channel. She has also covered a variety of other sports, including MLB and college football.
Kyndra de St. Aubin has been part of FOX Sports’ soccer coverage since 2001, having called International Champions Cup games on FOX Sports 1 in 2013 and 2014. She also called Women’s Professional Soccer League and National Women’s Soccer League games for FOX Sports and has worked for the Pac-12 Networks. A standout collegiate soccer star at Minnesota, de St. Aubin has also called games for the Big Ten Network.
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Justin Kutcher calls play-by-play across a variety of FOX Sports properties, sitting behind the microphone for college football, college basketball, Major League Baseball, NFL and soccer, including USWNT matches at the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament.
Aly Wagner is a former USWNT midfielder, two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist. As a national player of the year at Santa Clara, Wagner led her team to a national championship, scoring the game-winner in the title game. The first selection in the 2003 Women’s United Soccer Association Draft, Wagner played several years professionally.
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John Strong joined FOX Sports in January to call play-by-play for the network’s coverage of MLS, FIFA Women’s World Cup and other national soccer events. Strong regularly contributes to FOX Sports’ UEFA Europa League, CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF Women’s World Cup qualifying and has called various U.S. Soccer friendlies.
Danielle Slaton played for five years on the USWNT, owning a third-place finish at the 2003 Women’s World Cup and a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. She also played professionally in the U.S. and in France and has coached at the high school and collegiate levels. The 2001 NCAA Scholar Athlete of the Year, Slaton was a three-time All-American at Santa Clara and helped the Broncos to the 2001 NCAA Championship. She has called soccer previously for the Big Ten Network and FOX Sports, most recently at the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s Championship and 2015 Algarve Cup.
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Angela Hucles is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and helped the USWNT to a pair of third-place Women’s World Cup finishes as a midfielder (2003, 2007). She played 109 matches with the team and has since contributed to FOX Sports’ coverage of the 2014 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament. Hucles currently serves as president of the Women’s Sports Foundation, and her fiancée, Meg Mangano, is the team nutritionist for the Los Angeles Clippers.
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FOX Sports plans the most expansive and comprehensive multi-platform coverage ever of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™, including an unprecedented 16 matches airing live on FOX broadcast network, when the tournament commences on June 6. FOX Sports televises all 52 games in the expanded tournament from six cities across Canada between June 6 and July 5, 2015 live on FOX; FOX Sports 1, America’s fastest growing sports network; and FOX Sports 2. All games are available on tablets and mobile devices via the FOX Sports GO app and online at www.FOXSportsGO.com.
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FOX SPORTS TABS JENNY TAFT & JULIE STEWART-BINKS REPORTERS FOR FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2015™
Grant Wahl Serves as Correspondent-at-Large
New York – It is 18 days and counting down to the start of FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2015™, and today Jenny Taft, Julie Stewart-Binks and Grant Wahl have been formally named to the team FOX Sports is assembling to cover the world’s biggest and most exciting women’s sports event. The announcement was made by David Neal, FIFA Women’s World Cup on FOX Executive Producer.
Taft has been assigned the major role of being embedded with the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT), providing in-depth reports, breaking news and features on the squad throughout the tournament as she has since World Cup Qualifying. Stewart-Binks, a native Canadian, serves as a roving reporter, and is expected to report from at least 11 different games in four different cities during the group stage, among them the opening match between Canada and China (Edmonton); the tilt between title contenders France vs. England (Moncton); and top-ranked Germany taking on Norway (Ottawa). Wahl serves as correspondent-at-large, covering the wide-array of stories that develop naturally during a month-long tournament.
In addition to the match telecasts they’re assigned, their reports also appear during FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP TODAY, FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP TONIGHT, AMERICA’S PREGAME, FOX SPORTS LIVE and the popular @TheBuzzer feature made available via FOX Sports’ social and digital platforms.
“We’re very fortunate to have these three gifted, energetic professionals contributing to our Women’s World Cup coverage,” offered Neal. “Jenny and Julie are both rising stars at FOX Sports and have spent the last two years demonstrating their reporting skills and versatility, while Grant is one of the top soccer journalists in the world. When there’s news to report during the tournament, we have a team in place that can cover it.”
A former collegiate athlete possessing broad knowledge across several sports, Taft’s profile has expanded greatly since joining FOX Sports in 2013. In addition to her position as a reporter embedded with the USWNT, which began during the CONCACAF Women’s Championship in 2014, she works as a reporter for the network’s Pac-12 college football coverage and other events, as a fill-in host on AMERICA’S PREGAME and also as an anchor at the FOX Sports 1 update desk. Additional assignments have included Supercross, the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs and MLB games. (Link to full biography here.)
The Canadian-born Stewart-Binks has proven herself to be a versatile on-air personality since moving to the U.S. in time for the launch of FOX Sports 1 in 2013. She has served as a news update anchor, studio show host, soccer sideline reporter, a live event reporter and one-on-one interviewer. In addition to news updates, Stewart-Binks hosted FOX SOCCER DAILY during its run. She also provided daily segments from the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, served as a reporter during the NHL playoffs for FOX SPORTS LIVE in 2014 and covered the Guinness Champions Cup soccer tournament as a sideline reporter last summer. Stewart-Binks is also a regular event correspondent for AMERICA’S PREGAME, and in 2011 anchored FOX Soccer Channel’s flagship program, FOX SOCCER REPORT. (Link to full biography here.)
Grant Wahl is one of the world’s leading soccer journalists, and has been reporting for FOX Sports channels since 2012. He joined Sports Illustrated in November 1996 as a reporter and was promoted to his current position of senior writer in October 2000. Wahl has covered eight World Cups (five men’s, three women’s) and four Olympics for SI. (Link to full biography here.)
Kate Abdo and Rob Stone anchor FOX Sports studio coverage from a brand-new state-of-the-art studio in Vancouver beginning Thursday, June 4 on AMERICA’S PREGAME and FOX SPORTS LIVE. FOX Sports’ studio analysts headlining the network’s pregame, halftime and postgame coverage, as well as providing live hits into FOX Sports 1 signature programs AMERICA’S PREGAME and FOX SPORTS LIVE, are Monica Gonzalez, Ariane Hingst, Angela Hucles, Alexi Lalas, Christine Latham, Heather Mitts, Leslie Osborne, Kelly Smith, Eric Wynalda and Dr. Joe Machnik.
Match broadcast teams are: Glenn Davis & Christine Latham; JP Dellacamera, Cat Whitehill & Tony DiCicco; Jenn Hildreth & Kyndra de St. Aubin; Justin Kutcher & Aly Wagner; and John Strong & Danielle Slaton. In addition to her studio work, Hucles also provides game analysis. Dellacamera, Whitehill and DiCicco have been assigned to the three U.S. games in the group stage.
FOX Sports plans the most expansive and comprehensive multi-platform coverage ever of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™, including an unprecedented 16 matches airing live on FOX broadcast network, when the tournament commences on June 6. FOX Sports televises all 52 games in the expanded tournament from six cities across Canada between June 6 and July 5, 2015 live on FOX; FOX Sports 1, America’s fastest growing sports network; and FOX Sports 2. All games are available on tablets and mobile devices via the FOX Sports GO app and online at www.FOXSportsGO.com.
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