[2] The tournament also featured the first hat-trick scored at a World Cup, awarded to American striker Bert Patenaude following recognition by FIFA in 2006.
[12] The first American telecast of a World Cup match was when NBC aired the final between England and West Germany from four years prior.
[25][26] Other color commentators were: Clive Charles, Ty Keough, Peter Vermes,[27] Ron Newman, and Bill McDermott.
Hockey play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards[33][34][35][36][37][38] and Ty Keough were the lead broadcast team and called the games live in South Korea and Japan.
Dave O'Brien[39][40] joined Marcelo Balboa on the lead broadcast team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup coverage on ESPN and ABC Sports, despite having no experience calling soccer matches prior to that year.
Because The Walt Disney Company, owner of both television outlets, retained control over on-air talent, the appointment of O'Brien as the main play-by-play voice was made over the objections of Soccer United Marketing, who wanted JP Dellacamera to continue in that role.
Disney stated that their broadcast strategy was intended, in voice and style, to target the vast majority of Americans who do not follow the sport on a regular basis.
[41] Other broadcast teams included: JP Dellacamera and John Harkes, Glenn Davis and Shep Messing, Adrian Healey and Tommy Smyth, and Rob Stone and Robin Fraser.
Chris Fowler and Mike Tirico were the lead hosts in a studio set right outside of Soccer City in South Africa.
Other broadcast teams were: Ian Darke and John Harkes, who called USMNT games, Derek Rae and Robbie Mustoe, Adrian Healey and Ally McCoist, and Jim Proudfoot and Roberto Martínez.
Studio analysts were: Steve McManaman, Jurgen Klinsmann, Martínez, Ruud Gullit, Alexi Lalas, Shaun Bartlett, and Tommy Smyth.
Reporters were: Jeremy Schaap (United States and Final), Julie Foudy, Allen Hopkins, Rob Stone, Selema Masekela, Andrew Orsatti (Australia), John Sutcliffe (Mexico), and Dan Williams[44] The 2014 World Cup marked the end of the FIFA World Cup on ABC and ESPN.
Reporters included: Jeremy Schaap (Lead), Julie Foudy, Bob Woodruff, John Sutcliffe, Rubens Pozzi.
Previously, ABC's Wide World of Sports had shown England's Football Association Cup on as long as a two-week delay.
NBC's anthology series, SportsWorld[53] provided World Cup soccer qualifying coverage featuring the United States and the Netherlands Antilles.
1986 marked the first time that the World Cup had extensive live cable and network television coverage in the United States.
While it retained all existing sports telecast rights and programs aired by both Telemundo and NBC Universo, the latter network also began to expand its sports coverage, primarily in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics and the start of the division's contract with FIFA—whose first events included the 2015 U-20 World Cup and Women's World Cup.
[74][75][76] The English television rights to the FIFA World Cup have been held by Fox Sports since the 2018 edition and are set to run through 2026.
[78] Telemundo holds the Spanish television rights to broadcast the FIFA World Cup in the United States; their contract was also renewed through 2026.