BBC UNVEILS FIFA WORLD CUP PRESENTING AND PUDITRY LINE-UP AHEAD OF 2026 TOURNAMENT

The BBC has announced its squad for this Summer's FIFA World Cup. Leading the broadcaster's coverage will be Match Of The Day presenters Gabby Logan, Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates, plus Football Focus presenter Alex Scott.

They will be joined by names including Ashley Williams, Benni McCarthy, Scott Brown, Gaël Clichy, Micah Richards, Wayne Rooney, Olivier Giroud, Alan Shearer, Ellen White, Steph Houghton, Joe Hart, Steve Crossman and Rachel Corsie.

The BBC and ITV will once again bring the entire World Cup tournament to everyone, everywhere, free-to-air sharing coverage of its biggest fixtures, from high-stakes group clashes to unmissable knockout drama with shared coverage of the final.

On the BBC, audiences can look forward to three of England’s knockout clashes, if they progress - in the round of 32, round of 16, and a semi-final, plus England’s group-stage match with Ghana.

Scotland fans can look forward to live coverage of their opening and final group games against Haiti and Brazil across BBC TV and iPlayer. Two group matches each for major football forces in Argentina, France, Brazil, Portugal and the Netherlands will be shown live on the BBC, alongside key games for Spain, Germany and Belgium – and the opening match for Wales or Northern Ireland and two fixtures for the Republic of Ireland, if they qualify.

The opening matches of two of the host nations, USA and Canada, will be shown live by the BBC. Three of the top four picks in the round of 16 will be chosen by the BBC as well as three of the top five in the round of 32.

ITV will air 29 group-stage matches, including England’s first match of the tournament against Croatia live from Dallas on Wednesday 17 June, England’s final group-stage match against Panama, on 27 June and Scotland’s group-stage match against Morocco on the 19 June.

ITV will kick off the tournament with the first two matches, including one of the host nations, Mexico v South Africa, live from Mexico City, on ITV1, ITV4, ITVX, STV and STV Player.

The BBC kicks off its coverage on 12 June with Canada facing one of the play-off winners, either Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wales, Northern Ireland or Italy, followed by USA vs. Paraguay.

FIFA World Cup kicks off Thursday 11th June.