Carli Lloyd took the pregame desk on FOX on Friday ahead of the U.S. men’s opener at SoFi Stadium and made plain what she had already announced in April: she is expecting a second child and wore a visibly growing baby bump during the live World Cup broadcast.
The 43-year-old former U.S. international confirmed the family expansion this spring and repeated the happy news on air, saying, "Our family is growing, and we couldn’t be more grateful!" Lloyd also told viewers she is due in September and that she and husband Brian Hollins are "soaking in every bit of gratitude, love, and excitement as we prepare to welcome another little miracle into our lives." Harper, Lloyd and Hollins’s first child, was born in October 2024.
The sight of Lloyd on the 2026 World Cup set matters because she has become one of the sport’s most visible translators between the women’s game and mainstream audiences. She retired from playing in 2021, joined FOX Sports in 2022 and has served as an analyst at major tournaments including the 2022 and 2026 World Cups and the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia. Her on-air presence while pregnant puts one of the U.S. game’s best-known figures in a dual role this month: working the tournament she helped popularize and preparing for a new baby at home.
Lloyd’s résumé is not background so much as weight: two World Cup wins with the USWNT, FIFA Player of the Year honors in 2015 and 2016 and Olympic gold-clinching goals in 2008 and 2012. Those credentials are the reason networks turn to her for color and context; Friday’s appearance made clear she will continue to be part of that coverage even as her personal life changes.
There is a small but notable inconsistency in recent coverage: one report briefly referred to "Lloyd and Elliott’s child," a line that conflicts with the record that Lloyd and Brian Hollins welcomed daughter Harper in October 2024. The slip is an odd footnote amid otherwise straightforward reporting about Lloyd’s announcement and her visible pregnancy on the World Cup broadcast.
Beyond the immediate visibility, Lloyd has been candid about how much it took to get to this point. In a previous op‑ed she described going through three rounds of in‑vitro fertilization before giving birth to Harper, and said she hoped her story would reach others navigating fertility struggles: "I want to show other women going through IVF that they are not alone, and that good can come from this," she wrote.
What happens next is simple and specific: Lloyd is due in September. What remains unanswered for the moment is how, if at all, that timetable will affect her role on FOX for the remainder of the tournament and beyond. No change to her on‑air schedule has been announced, and Friday’s appearance suggested she intends to remain visible while pregnant.
Her presence on the pregame set offered a rare combination of professional gravity and personal announcement—an on‑air reminder that broadcasters routinely juggle live shows and real lives. Lloyd’s next public milestones are clear: the rest of the World Cup schedule, and a September arrival that will make her a mother of two.
