The next FIFA Women’s World Cup may be a year away, but that isn’t stopping women from making history at the 2018 World Cup. On Friday June 15th, Aly Wagner became the first woman to call a men’s World Cup match on U.S. television, serving as the game analyst.
If anyone knows the game of soccer, it’s Wagner. She played for the U.S. Women’s National Team from 1998-2008 and has 131 caps under her belt. She also has two Olympic Gold medals. Even after hanging up her cleats she hasn’t strayed far from the game, Wagner was in the broadcast booth for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, and serves as an analyst for NWSL games.
In total, Aly Wagner is scheduled to call ten matches throughout the 2018 World Cup from FOX’s Los Angeles studio, so if you missed Friday’s match you have nine more chances to hear her in action.
Even better yet, Aly Wagner isn’t the only woman to break barriers during this year’s tournament. Telemundo Deportes has also added a woman to its broadcast booth for U.S. coverage – Viviana Vila. She will likewise serve as an analyst for a handful of matches.
Vila is a sports journalist from Argentina who’s been covering soccer since 1999 on radio and TV. In the last nineteen years, she’s lent her voice and expertise to almost a thousand matches including tournaments such as Copa America and the 2017 UEFA European Championship.
Audiences in the United States won’t be the only ones to hear more gender-balanced commentary during this year’s World Cup. The BBC also hired its first female World Cup commentator – Vicki Sparks, a veteran reporter. Meanwhile, The BBC’s rival ITV has also assembled a team that includes a handful of women: reporter Seema Jaswal, the England striker-turned pundit Eniola Aluko, and longtime sports presenter Jacqui Oatley.
Women are more than capable of talking about sports, it’s nice to see that broadcast television networks are finally catching on. As Anna Kessel, the co-founder of Women in Football explained in a piece for The Guardian:
One of the biggest barriers to women in football is this archaic idea that women don’t understand the game, but viewers are going to see these incredible, talented women who are knowledgable and natural. When boys and girls watch this World Cup and they see these amazing women on their screens, that totally changes their expectations of what women can and can’t do. Blimey, that’s huge.”
The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia takes place from June 15th – July 14th. American viewers can catch all the games live on either FOX or FOX Sports 1.
