For soccer fans who watch a ton of matches each week, many of us have our own favorite soccer commentators — the ones we look forward to listening to, the ones that give us a thrill when we hear their voices on television.
After watching thousands of matches, both World Soccer Talk Senior Writer Kartik Krishnaiyer and I have compiled our lists of the top 10 commentators in the business.
Here are the top 10 soccer commentators in the business:
Kartik Krishnaiyer’s top 10 commentators:
10. Peter Drury
9. Andres Cantor
8. JP Dellacamera
7. Ian Darke
6. Steve Bower
5. Phil Schoen
4. John Strong
3. Martin Tyler
2. Jon Champion
1. Derek Rae
SEE MORE:
• Top 10 soccer co-commentators
• Top 10 soccer studio analysts
Christopher Harris’ top 10 commentators:
10. Dave Farrar
9. JP Dellacamera
8. Andres Cantor
7. Steve Bower
6. John Strong
5. Phil Schoen
4. Ian Darke
3. Derek Rae
2. Jon Champion
1. Martin Tyler
Who’s on your top 10 list of favorite soccer co-commentators on television? Let us know in the comments section below.
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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.
I love Alan Fountain, too, but I don’t get to hear him that much anymore.
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.
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.
No doubt Andres Cantor and Jorge Ramos from ESPN deportes Radio
A top commentator list WITHOUT Ray Hudson????… please delete. Smh
Ray’s on the list of best co-commentators: http://worldsoccertalk.com/2016/12/26/top-10-soccer-co-commentators/
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.
Jon Champion for the win. That’s all 🙂
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…
Comment Text*I second you these are the best three, but my sequence is
. 3.tayler 2.champion 1. Drury
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.
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.
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.
I enjoy Arlo’s repartee with Le Saux and Dixon too. It also gives them a chance to get a word in:)
Arlo White is the best. Period end.
JP Dellamaera. USA USA USA USA USA
If he used a fake Brit accent, everyone would have liked this comment guaranteed.
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.
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
If Phil schoen is commenting, I turn the sound down.
liter Drury Is number one commentator in the world
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…
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—
no one ever can match Peter Drury
My favorite was Ray Hudson
If Emre schoen is commenting, I turn the sound down.
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?”