Top 10 soccer commentators

28 Comments

1. 

   Emile

   June 23, 2018 at 10:37 am

   How is Arlo White not even ON either list? JP is okay, but he’s like John Sterling (Yankees fans will know what I mean: “It is high, it is far it is …caught.”). Just watched him call a goal then have to backtrack when it was cleared off the line, baffled, like “wow, they can DO that?”

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2. 

   emre çağlarer

   May 20, 2018 at 3:21 pm

   If Emre schoen is commenting, I turn the sound down.

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3. 

   John Jayyay

   December 5, 2017 at 1:39 pm

   My favorite was Ray Hudson

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4. 

   Abinet

   September 19, 2017 at 1:56 am

   no one ever can match Peter Drury

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5. 

   Cantona

   May 5, 2017 at 3:15 pm

   Oliver, Im sick of hearing your fantasies of being the football insider… you full of bullsh*t. And have been caught out on other sites… because you you send a thousand emails to someone doesnt mean you know them. Quit dreaming sh*t up. Most of the veterens of this site have your a$$ pegged and remember your bullsh*t from before.

   Cantona—

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6. 

   Oliver Tse

   May 5, 2017 at 12:43 pm

   I am going to point out to Christopher Harris and Kartik that they have another blind spot.

   I wrote the following article for a San Francisco Bay Area soccer fan newsletter Home and Away in February 2009 in exchange for advertising space, One of the writers of the newsletter, William Olson, asked me to write the article after after I met him at the festivities surrounding the 1999 Women’s World Cup Draw and Gala Match on the weekend of February 12-14, 1999. (Note that Tommy Smyth “with a y” was a regular contributor to the newsletter. Tommy told me that he wrote all those UEFA Champions League preview articles for the newsletter for free. )

   https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivertse888/treasury/position:972606799/?entityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_treasuryMedia%3A(ACoAAAK_B_EBpodM3o-eZAi8AyuktFg2WT5Ecd4%2C1493628570589)

   In that article, I pointed out an announcer who remains to this day, head and shoulders above every other announcer I have come across.

   Marcelo Araujo

   Araujo had a baritone voice and did he ever put it to good use as the play-by-play announcer of Clasico del Domingo, the match of the week for the Argentine Primera Division.

   The first time I heard Araujo was during the 1997 Torneo Clausura, after I had installed direct broadcast satellite TV in my apartment. FOX Sports Americas (now FOX Deportes) was relaying
   Clasico del Domingo straight through (and FOX would do so until FOX gave up the U.S. rights to the Argentine Primera after the Argentine Football Association booted out FOX’s production partner Torneos y Competencias in favor of TV Publica.)

   Thanks to YouTube, plenty of video of Araujo calling Clasico del Domingo have survived. Below is the first superclasico I watched, from March 1997, with Enzo Francescoli playing in his final season before retiring. (I would have the opportunity to meet Francescoli in person in April 2005, as he had become CEO of GOLTV and one of his senior management members invited me to dinner along with the guest of honor, Brazilian icon Pele.)

   https://youtu.be/E03ViKjxVNY?list=PLOrWhdV1HXx8LC7x0-fpd30hox4OFfS7L

   To be continued…

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7. 

   Abinet

   January 4, 2017 at 4:12 am

   liter Drury Is number one commentator in the world

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8. 

   Phil Goetz

   January 2, 2017 at 7:39 pm

   If Phil schoen is commenting, I turn the sound down.

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9. 

   Dirgayana Wijaya

   January 2, 2017 at 6:10 am

   My List are like this :
   10. Phil Blacker
   9. Ian Crocker
   8. Joe Speight
   7. Rob Palmer
   6. Rob Hawthorne
   5. Daniel Mann
   4. Jim Proudfoot
   3. Martin Tyler
   2. Peter Drury
   1. Jon Champion

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10. 

    Merica

    January 1, 2017 at 1:28 pm

    JP Dellamaera. USA USA USA USA USA

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    • 

      tim

      January 3, 2017 at 2:24 pm

      If he used a fake Brit accent, everyone would have liked this comment guaranteed.

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      • 

        Sean

        November 15, 2017 at 11:20 pm

        Hahaha – he usually has no clue what he’s talking about and screams about anything that happens near the penalty area. I have no idea why he’s still commentating on anything to do with soccer.

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11. 

    Maverick

    December 31, 2016 at 11:48 pm

    Arlo White is the best. Period end.

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12. 

    Stephen May

    December 30, 2016 at 6:44 pm

    My two favorites are Arlo White and Jon Champion, ranked in either order. Yes, I am a US-based Premier League fan, but I also watch Bundesliga and La Liga games and all of the international competitions, 15-20 hours a week of soccer viewing. I think that both of these commentators offer more than just play-by-play, talking about issues affecting individual clubs and the players, and personalizing the players. Both have a great sense of humor, they employ a large, intelligent, vocabulary, and they have good interaction with the color men that they work with. I especially enjoy Arlo White bantering with Graeme Le Saux and Lee Dixon about their days as players. Jon Champion is probably the more knowledgeable commentator, but Arlo White is, IMHO, the most entertaining commentator.

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    • 

      Jon

      December 6, 2017 at 2:08 pm

      I enjoy Arlo’s repartee with Le Saux and Dixon too. It also gives them a chance to get a word in:)

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13. 

    Pedro

    December 30, 2016 at 3:03 am

    Jesus Bracamontes is the best commentator/analyst. He is quick to break down the game in simple terms that any one can understand as if giving a lecture on football. Understated and clear in his explanations.
    Romagnoli and David Medrano Felix are incredible in the play-by-play.
    I usually switch channels with any english language broadcast because they all, at one point or another, start throwing out useless stats without any context just to sound knowledgeable. Or better yet, they insist on telling you where a certain player went to college and how how great a player he was then.

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14. 

    Abdi

    December 29, 2016 at 7:12 pm

    3. Jon Champion
    2. Martin Tyler
    1. Peter Drury.
    Forget the rest those are the A+ players. Football will never be the same with out those three. Its hard to choose who is the best, but I went for Drury because his passion about when he is commentating. He makes the game so delicious. Again all those three are in the same level…

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    • 

      Ally

      December 31, 2016 at 9:38 am

      Comment Text*I second you these are the best three, but my sequence is
      . 3.tayler 2.champion 1. Drury

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    • 

      Jon

      December 6, 2017 at 2:05 pm

      Drury is just awful to endure for a full 90 minutes. He seems to be popular with some of the Asian and African fans who get the World Feed. I know lots of others beside myself can’t stand him.

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15. 

    Rob S

    December 29, 2016 at 4:44 pm

    Jon Champion for the win. That’s all 🙂

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16. 

    Earle Stephens

    December 29, 2016 at 12:35 pm

    when America needed a signature for the world cup in 94 they paid Andres Cantor boucoup bucks to say GOgOgOgOOOOOAAALLLLLLL. its unfair to ask a spanish speaking guy to compete in an english competition.

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17. 

    Shea

    December 29, 2016 at 2:47 am

    A top commentator list WITHOUT Ray Hudson????… please delete. Smh

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    • 

      Christopher Harris

      December 29, 2016 at 7:52 am

      Ray’s on the list of best co-commentators: https://worldsoccertalk.com/2016/12/26/top-10-soccer-co-commentators/

      Reply
18. 

    Marlon

    December 28, 2016 at 9:49 pm

    No doubt Andres Cantor and Jorge Ramos from ESPN deportes Radio

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19. 

    CHRISTOPHER DAY

    December 28, 2016 at 9:15 pm

    Arlo White and Peter Drury are the best in my opinion but I an biased to the Premier League and NBC coverage. Andres Cantor is certainly a legend as well. Martin Tyler is also very good.

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20. 

    R.O

    December 28, 2016 at 5:40 pm

    Yes so true. We either get the International feed for Bundesliga (Derek Rae mostly- which is wonderful) or we get the FS1 in-house commentators. The in-house guys can be hit and miss. When Bundesliga was on Goltv, we’d get Fountain most of the time.

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21. 

    R.O

    December 28, 2016 at 3:11 pm

    Kartik; JP and John Strong ahead of Cantor? No way, not in a 100 years! Maybe it’s because Andres Cantor does 99% of commenting in Spanish and the rest are all English speakers that most people (don’t know if you speak Spanish) don’t get to appreciate Andres Cantor and what he brings. Not sure if it was fair to rate him vs. English Speaking game commentators.

    Chris; Steve Bower John Strong ahead of Andres Cantor, I have to disagree with that too, especially John Strong. I’d put JP ahead of John Strong.

    My favorite is Derek Rae. Jon Champion has become too US sports commentators like, i.e. endless chat about things not related to on field action.

    I know we in the US don’t get to hear this person much: Alan Fountain but he is excellent. Does Bundesliga Games. I’d put Fountain ahead of John Strong.

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    • 

      Christopher Harris

      December 28, 2016 at 4:04 pm

      I love Alan Fountain, too, but I don’t get to hear him that much anymore.

      Reply