Belgium’s loss is ESPN’s gain.
Superstar Manchester City defender and Belgian national star Vincent Kompany will miss the Euro 2016 tournament with a groin injury, but will remain involved in the proceedings by making appearances on ESPN as a studio analyst, Awful Announcing can exclusively reveal.
“It is very unfortunate that injury has prevented Vincent from leading the Belgium National Team in this tournament,” said ESPN senior coordinating producer Amy Rosenfeld, “but we are delighted that he is joining us to provide a fresh, off-the-field analysis to our viewers.”
The popular Kompany will join ESPN’s previously announced stable of studio analysts, including German legend Michael Ballack, former Everton manager Roberto Martinez, longtime ESPN analyst and former U.S. goalie Casey Keller, former French World Cup champion Frank Lebeouf, former Scottish star Craig Burley, ex-Argentina star Santiago Solari and the debut of recently retired American star Abby Wambach.
“Chemistry among our commentators is very important and Vincent will be a terrific addition to an already strong group,” Rosenfeld said. “He is a great ambassador of the sport and his insight will enhance our presentation of the UEFA EURO 2016 to fans in the United States.”
Bob Ley and Mike Tirico will once again anchor the studio coverage, and lead play-by-play voice Ian Darke will also make studio appearances along with top game analysts Taylor Twellman and Steve McManaman.
Komapny will provide unique perspective as a current player who’s competed either with or against many of the top players in the tournament, and it’ll be especially interesting to see his analysis on his Belgian teammates since they have one of the more young, dynamic teams in the tournament. The defender will also be working for the BBC covering Euro 2016 as well.
Euro 2016 begins on Friday from France, when the hosts take on Romania from Paris. The matches will go on as scheduled despite last week’s historic flooding in the region, which caused the highest level of flooding of the River Seine since 1982. That flooding caused ESPN to move its set from its original location, but they intend to move back into their original set along the Seine at some point during the tournament.
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About Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung is a writer and columnist for Awful Announcing. He's also a senior contributor at Forbes and writes at FanSided, SI Knicks, YES Network and other publications.. A 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School, he has previously worked for the New York Knicks, Business Insider, Sporting News and Major League Baseball. You should follow him on Twitter.