ESPN announces commentators, programming for Bundesliga coverage

It’s almost time again for the Bundesliga to begin the season and for the first time since 2014, the league will have a new channel.

As ESPN is set to cover the Bundesliga for the first time, the broadcaster showed fans today what they can look forward to when the season starts on Friday.

The matchday kicks off on the ESPN app with Bundesliga Countdown Live, hosted by ESPNFC hosts Dan Thomas and Craig Burley. While he wasn’t given a biography, this quote implies a third person will join them:

Thomas, Burley and Cherundolo will headline a 30-minute preview show on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App.

By Cherundolo, this announcement probably means that current Germany U-15 assistant coach and former US international Steve Cherundolo will join the team.

Following BCL, another half-hour pregame show, ESPN FC Live, will be hosted by recent ESPN International hire Kay Murray with co-host Taylor Twellman in studio and former Fox Sports Bundesliga reporter Archie Rhind-Tutt.

Twellman will then serve as the color commentator for ESPN’s broadcast of the game. The main play-by-play duties will be handed over to FIFA 21 commentator (and friend of BFW’s BPW) Derek Rae. The Spanish-language broadcast will be handled by the traditional ESPN Deportes team of Fernando Palomo and World Cup winner Mario Kempes.

Following the game, the post-game edition of ESPN FC Live will be hosted again by Thomas and Burley, but joined by former USMNT goalkeeper Kasey Keller, former Eintracht Frankfurt striker Jan Åge Fjørtoft, with Rhind-Tutt live from the stadium.

The first game of the matchday, Bayern Munich vs Schalke, will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+, while the remaining Bundesliga games this weekend will be broadcast solely on the subscription streaming service.

In addition to these live shows, ESPN has obtained the rights to Soccer Made in Germany, an Emmy-nominated show that ran on PBS from the mid-1970’s to the 1980’s. The network has also gained rights to host a library of classic Bundesliga games and various other digital content.

For more information, you can view the official press release here.