The BBC has unveiled a star-studded line-up of presenters, pundits, and former players for its coverage of the 2026 World Cup, with former Tottenham manager Thomas Frank<\/b> among the biggest new additions.<\/p>\n
BBC Sport has unveiled its presenter and pundit line-up for the 2026 World Cup. Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank<\/b> is among the new names joining the broadcaster\u2019s coverage team for the expanded tournament in the US, Canada, and Mexico this summer.<\/p>\n
The broadcaster also confirmed former France national football team striker Olivier Giroud<\/b> and ex-Spain national football team defender Cesar Azpilicueta<\/b> will feature as pundits and co-commentators \u2013 alongside familiar BBC faces including Alan Shearer, Micah Richards, Wayne Rooney, and Joe Hart.<\/p>\n
The announcement comes as broadcasters prepare for the first 48-team World Cup<\/b>, featuring 104 matches<\/b> across North America, with both the BBC and ITV sharing live free-to-air rights in the UK. Other former players joining the BBC\u2019s analysis team include Conor Coady, Gael Clichy, Theo Walcott, Ellen White, Sue Smith, and Rachel Corsie<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Presenting duties will be led by Alex Scott, Gabby Logan, Mark Chapman, and Kelly Cates<\/b>. The tournament will also mark another major broadcasting role for Alex Scott<\/b>, who has become one of the BBC\u2019s leading football presenters following her work on FIFA World Cup, the Premier League, and UEFA European Championship coverage. Wayne Rooney<\/b>, meanwhile, continues to balance television work with his managerial career after remaining a regular pundit following his spells with Manchester United F.C. and the England national football team.<\/p>\nStatement from BBC Director of Sport<\/h3>\n
Alex Kay-Jelski<\/b>, BBC Director of Sport, said: “The BBC is turning the biggest World Cup in history into the most iconic one yet. We\u2019re bringing fans closer to every match, every moment, and every story than ever before. Sport truly unites people like nothing else, so we can\u2019t wait for fans to enjoy not just the live matches with us but an abundance of football content, all day, every day across our platforms. Whether it\u2019s our new series on YouTube and iPlayer, the biggest news stories on our website and app, our daily podcasts on Sounds, or the viral moments on social media \u2013 we\u2019re here for audiences 24\/7 this summer, taking them straight to the heart of the World Cup.”<\/p>\n
All 104 matches<\/b> at the tournament will be shown live on free-to-air television in the UK. ITV<\/b> will broadcast the England national football team\u2019s opening match against the Croatia national football team, their final group-stage game against the Panama national football team, and a potential quarter-final should Thomas Tuchel guide England that far. The BBC<\/b> will show England\u2019s second group match against the Ghana national football team and would also screen the Three Lions in the last-32, last-16, and semi-finals if they progress deep into the competition. Both broadcasters will air the World Cup final on 19 July<\/b>. ITV, meanwhile, has hired a studio in Brooklyn for the duration of the competition.<\/p>\n
#WorldCup2026 #BBCSport #AlexScott #FootballCoverage #ThomasFrank #OlivierGiroud #CesarAzpilicueta #EnglandFootball #FreeToAir #PresenterLineup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The BBC has unveiled a star-studded line-up of presenters, pundits, and former players for its coverage of the 2026 World Cup, with former Tottenham manager Thomas Frank among the biggest new additions. BBC Sport has unveiled its presenter and pundit line-up for the 2026 World Cup. Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank is among the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}