Many media watchers have been eager to see how Fox plans to cover the World Cup now that it has rights to the FIFA tournament and other ancillary events.
On Tuesday, Fox made two strong statements about how it plans to cover the World Cup, which begins next summer with the Women’s tournament in Canada. Fox said it will air 16 matches — including one semifinal, the third place game and championship — on the Fox broadcast network, the most for any World Cup.
Of the remaining 52 matches, 30 of them will air on Fox Sports 1 and six on Fox Sports 2. This year’s Women’s World Cup will see the field of countries expand from 16 to 24 teams, upping the number of matches from 32 to 52.
This also marks the first time since 2003 that any Women’s World Cup match will air on broadcast. Fox Sports said it expects to provide nearly 200 hours of coverage over the month-long tournament.
Fox will also stream every match on its Fox Sports Go TV Everywhere service.
Earlier on Tuesday, Fox announced that popular ESPN soccer commentator Alexi Lalas would join the network next month.
