ESPN to Launch Daily Soccer Show 'ESPN FC' On ESPN2 in August

ESPN is launching its own daily 30-minute news and highlights soccer show beginning August 11 entitled ESPN FC. The program will air Sunday through Friday, primarily on ESPN2, beginning August 11.

“Soccer’s popularity is at an all-time high in the United States as fans are now more familiar with the world’s top players, marquee clubs and national teams,” said Scott Guglielmino, ESPN senior vice president for programming.

ESPN plans to cover news and highlights focusing primarily on the Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Spain’s La Liga, Major League Soccer, U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team and the Mexican National Team.

“It will become ESPN’s signature program for soccer,” said Guglielmino.

Sunday editions of ESPN FC will be a one-hour program – wrapping up the best highlights from the weekend’s soccer action while looking ahead to what the results mean to the teams and their respective leagues.  Monday through Friday, the program will air for 30 minutes each day.  ESPN FC on TV will replace the ESPN FC Press Pass, the global soccer discussion program on ESPNEWS, in the United States.

This is a huge boost for soccer coverage in the United States. With ESPN losing the Premier League rights for 2013-16, the decision to air a daily TV program focused on soccer will ensure that ESPN continues to be seen as a go-to source for soccer news instead of, for EPL viewers in the United States, practically disappearing off the radar.

The big question is what time slot the ESPN FC program will have on TV, since that’ll have a impact on the success of the show. According to an ESPN spokeperson, the timeslot is “to be announced.”