Craig Foster and Max Rushden lead Stan’s UEFA Champions League coverage
Stan Sport has made its first commentator signings ahead of the debut of its UEFA Champions League football coverage, with the group stages set to kick off in September.
Leading the charge is ex-Socceroo and former SBS chief football analyst and commentator Craig Foster, who ended his 18-year affiliation with SBS in June of 2020.
He will be joined by English football pundit Max Rushden, current host of long-running The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast, which he has hosted since 2017 and regular on Talksport. Rushden, a former host with the BBC and Sky Sports, will move to Australia for the role.
Rushden will also be familiar to Australian football audiences following his recent part Optus Sport’s coverage of the Euros.
Craig Foster & Max Rushden
The pair will be introduced during Stan Sport’s coverage of the UEFA Super Cup this Thursday, as Champions League winners Chelsea take on Europa League winners Villarreal. Foster and Rushden will first appear in the Stan Sport studio on 15 September when this year’s Champions League group stage begins.
Foster said: “The UEFA Champions League is the benchmark football competition globally with the greatest players, tacticians, histories and club rivalries.
“Since the mid-1950s, when Real Madrid made their name as five times Champions of Europe, through the various iterations to Chelsea’s second triumph last year, it’s the competition every club wants to be in, and every fan wants to experience.
“I’m delighted to be able to bring the world’s finest football to Australian audiences with Stan – the new home of the UEFA Champions League.”
Rushden added: “I am thrilled to be joining Stan to host their exciting new UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League coverage.
“From the early stages of our discussions, it was clear we were very aligned on how football should be covered – in a relaxed, intelligent, and hopefully entertaining way.
“We’re putting together a brilliant team of experts in Australia and around Europe, and I can’t wait to arrive with my Aussie wife, get hotel quarantine out of the way, and get stuck in for our first group stage matches.”
The UEFA Champions League qualifying stages are currently taking place, with the draw for the group stages happening at the end of August.
Stan Acting chief executive officer, Martin Kugeler, said: “We are delighted to announce Max Rushden and Craig Foster as our first commentary team signings for Stan’s UEFA club football coverage.
“Max and Craig will bring incredible expertise, knowledge, and passion for the world’s best club football to our broadcast. We look forward to welcoming them both into our Stan Sport family.”
Stan Sport will broadcast every match of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League and UEFA Youth League, for the next three seasons.
Speaking with Mumbrella recently, Nine CEO Mike Sneesby said he believes that despite the recent splintering of the football broadcasting market, there is plenty of audience to go around.
“When services like Stan Sport are offering sport at [an additional] $10 a month, you are giving consumers the ability to choose their competition and pay the right amount of money rather than spending their entire pay television subscription in order to get that.
“So as much as there’s some rights moving around, the outcome is better value for consumers. The guys at Optus Sport have done a fantastic job with football over the years, but there’s plenty to go around.”
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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