The World Game duo Lucy Zelić and Nick Stoll depart SBS
After almost eight and six years respectively, The World Game presenting duo Lucy Zelić and Nick Stoll, have left SBS, after it was announced last month that The World Game website and brand would be discontinued.
Zelić joined the broadcaster in 2013 as a sideline reporter, soon after establishing herself as a host of the flagship football show, The World Game. She and Stoll had been hosting a weekly online-only show weekly for the past few months called World Game Live.
Speaking to Mumbrella Zelić said she had been made redundant as a result of the management’s decision to discontinue The World Game brand. “With no [broadcast] rights or anything tangible to sustain my role, it was inevitable that I was made redundant,” she said.
Meanwhile, Stoll has already secured a new role at Optus Sport, which he started on Tuesday. It was announced this morning that Optus Sport has secured the rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand for the first time. Optus is also set to broadcast the UEFA Euros and Copa America men’s football tournaments in the coming weeks.
Comunicado Oficial: I’m very excited to join the great @OptusSport team ahead of their Euros and Copa America coverage. Been a big admirer of their work from afar and can’t wait to work with @davidweiner9, @Jakeros95, @RSBayliss and the team to bring you these tournaments ⚽️❤ pic.twitter.com/U2GHirQsU8
— Nick Stoll (@NickStoll) June 1, 2021
Zelić said that the redundancy, at a time where she is also six months pregnant was “one of the toughest things to go through in my professional career”.
STATEMENT: After almost eight years, it’s time to say goodbye to the broadcaster I’ve called home, @SBS ❤️ pic.twitter.com/OGUMtiAaFS
— Lucy Zelić (@LucyZelic) June 4, 2021
Last month it was also announced that the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) competition the A-League had signed a five-year deal with Network Ten’s parent company ViacomCBS to broadcast the A-League and W-League across its free-to-air channels and also new streaming service Paramount+.
This ended a near-two year saga around the rights to Australia’s premier football competition, with all games to be broadcast on the newly launched Viacom CBS streaming platform each week.
Zelić said that SBS had “championed the game” for many years, and that the move of the broadcast to these new partners was a sign of the sports success.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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