On Wednesday, Fox Sports bolstered its supply of soccer rights in a partly unexpected way.
The company announced that Fox Deportes has acquired the English-language rights to the Mexican National Team’s friendlies through the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Yes, Fox Deportes (a Spanish-language channel) will be airing the Mexican National Team in English. The Spanish-language rights are still held by Univision.
Carlos Sanchez, EVP and general manager of Fox Deportes, touted the acquisition.
“The Mexico National Team inspires true passion and excitement across our audience,” said Carlos Sanchez, Executive Vice President and General Manager, FOX Deportes. “Presenting these highly anticipated matches in English offers an exciting alternative for “El Tri’s” largely bilingual fanbase here in the United States.”
Fox Deportes will air a pair of friendlies featuring the Mexican National Team over the next week: the Ghana match on Saturday, October 14, and the Germany match on Tuesday, October 17. Both matches will take place on American soil (Charlotte and Philadelphia, respectively).
Fox Deportes’ usual broadcasters will call the match. Rodolfo Landeros and Mariano Trujillo will take the Ghana match, while Adrian Garcia-Marquez will call the Germany match with Trujillo. Landeros will serve as the field reporter for that contest.
Fox previously held the rights to the Mexican National Team from 2016-18.
While this might seem weird on paper, it’s a sensible decision from Fox. Simply being able to air the games at all, regardless of the language, is a positive development. We saw that last year during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar when Peacock streamed the Spanish-language broadcasts from Telemundo and viewership soared.
