FOX Sports released its broadcast assignments for the first week of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group Stage, naming the announcer teams for the tournament opener on Thursday, June 11, and the U.S. men’s national team’s opening match on Friday, June 12.
The tournament opener in Mexico City — Mexico vs. South Africa — will be called by Ian Darke and Landon Donovan on FOX, with live coverage starting at 1:00 PM ET. John Strong and Stu Holden will call the U.S. match against Paraguay from Los Angeles on Friday, June 12, joined on site by reporter Jenny Taft; FOX will precede that game with a special three-hour pregame show beginning at 6:00 PM ET.
said nine commentary teams will travel across North America to call all 104 matches on location from the tournament’s 16 host cities. Assignments for other opening-week games include Jacqui Oatley and Warren Barton on FS1 for Korea Republic vs. Czechia in Guadalajara on June 11; Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves calling Canada vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina on FOX from Toronto on June 12; Derek Rae and Rob Green on FOX for Qatar vs. Switzerland on June 13; and Ian Crocker and Danny Higginbotham on FS1 for Haiti vs. Scotland that same day. On Sunday, June 14, FS1 will carry Côte d’Ivoire vs. Ecuador with JP Dellacamera and Lori Lindsey, and Sweden vs. Tunisia with Tyler Terens and Maurice Edu.
The numbers underline the scale: 104 matches spread across 16 host cities, and nine traveling commentary crews tasked with covering the tournament on site. FOX framed the rollout as an unprecedented production, calling it "the biggest production Fox Sports has ever put on in our company’s history." Network executives said the setup will allow deeper storytelling and varied presentation across the opening slate — "It’s going to allow us to delve in deeper to the matches, to talk about the game in different ways, present the game in different ways," one executive said — and promised the coverage will feel "rich," "quite different" and "not... oversaturated, but... real."
FOX also confirmed that Dr. Joe Machnik and Mark Clattenburg will serve as the network’s dedicated FIFA World Cup 2026 rules analysts throughout the tournament and reiterated that it will be America’s official English-language home for the competition from Thursday, June 11 through Sunday, July 19.
Context: the 2026 tournament expands to 48 nations and 104 matches, up from 32 teams and 64 matches in 2022. FOX has been the U.S. English-language World Cup broadcaster since 2015; the company’s current rights deal runs through this tournament. The network’s plan calls for most early matches to appear on broadcast FOX and a slate of group games on FS1, with every match available on the network’s streaming platform.
The announced assignments give viewers a clear map for the opening days, but they answer only part of the operational question. said match-by-match assignments beyond the first week will be released on a weekly basis once play begins. That leaves an open, consequential question for the weeks that follow: which of these nine commentary teams — and which pairing of analysts and reporters — will remain on site as the tournament stretches on through July 19?
