'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
No football fan will deny a commentator’s ability to enrich the viewing experience of any game. Commentators, throughout footballing history, have not only amplified the excitement and intensity of football matches but also helped make them timeless moments of action.
In this section, we take a look at the best commentators to have graced the game of football.
5. Ian Darke
The Premier League’s oldest fans will remember Ian Darke as one of Sky Sports’ 'big four' commentators together with Alan Parry, Martin Tyler, and Rob Hawthorne.
The British commentator has been on the sidelines for sports like boxing and athletics, but his undying love for football makes him one of the best in the business.
Darke has been commentating on Premier League games since its inception in 1992, most recently working with Prime Video UK. He has also called on both domestic cup competitions and international tournaments, most notably the 2005 Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea.
Despite his English origin, Darke is most popular among American fans who, till date, drool over his incredible commentary when former USMNT striker Landon Donovan scored a winning goal against Algeria in the 2010 World Cup group stage which sent them through to the knock-out stages.
Ask any American and this bit of commentary will certainly ring in their ears almost 10 years from that famous goal. Darke said:
“Howard gratefully claims it. Distribution: brilliant. Landon Donovan, are things on here for the USA? Can they do it here? Cross – and Dempsey is denied again! And Donovan has scored! Oh, can you believe this! Go, go, USA! Certainly through! Oh, it's incredible! You could not write a script like this!”
Another iconic USA goal he commentated on was for John Brooks’ winning strike against Ghana in the 2014 World Cup group stages.
Darke has since worked on Major League Soccer games and USMNT friendlies owing to his ever-increasing American viewership. Sports Illustrated magazine named him the “Best Newcomer in American Sports TV" in 2010 and he was also voted in the US as the “Best Football Commentator” for his work during the 2011-2012 season.
Also Read: Top 10 great football commentator quotes
4. Jim Beglin
The fact that Jim Beglin is on this list despite not being a primary commentator speaks volumes about his incredible understanding of the game. The Irishman has always been a side-kick to the likes of Peter Drury and Martin Tyler in recent years but he has still managed to cement his reputation as one of the sport’s most-loved names on the sidelines.
Beglin can be caught calling on major Premier League games alongside Drury, both of whom make an excellent partnership in the commentators’ box. He is an excellent analyst and reads the game thoroughly. He does not hold anything back and rather commentates with a straight-forward approach through which he makes piercing comments about players and teams.
The 56-year-old might be the only one on this list to have played professional football as high as in the English top-flight. He was former Liverpool manager Bob Paisley’s final signing and went on to play at Anfield for six years in the 1980s. During that time, he made 98 league appearances for the Reds lifting the Football League First Division title, now the Premier League, and the FA Cup in 1986. But despite his obvious loyalty to the Reds, his commentary is unbiased and untainted.
Beglin is also active on social media platforms like Twitter where he constantly engages with fans and supporters. There’s no doubt that he can discuss the game all day long, and despite playing second-fiddle to primary commentators, watchers will still hear a lot of him during matches.
The former Liverpool man also partners Drury in the Pro Evolution Soccer video game series, thereby taking their real-life chemistry into the digital world. He has worked with many broadcasting agencies like ITV, BT Sport, Premier League Productions and NBC Sports Network to name a few.
3. Jon Champion
Premier League fans will remember Jon Champion as one of the most iconic commentators in the country before he packed his bags for the United States ahead of the ongoing season.
The Yorkshire-born announcer was a regular feature in some of the biggest Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup games throughout his long-spanning career in English football.
Champion has worked with BBC Sport, ITV, Setanta, ESPN, Premier League Productions and many other broadcasting channels, highlighting his immense experience and expertise in the field. His most-loved commentating quality is his tendency to be witty at will and say the right thing at the right time.
He can also be credited with making a dull game better with his eloquent and euphonious intonation. His voice has been music to many Premier League fans’ ears over the decades, and his departure has left a significant void in the English game. The ageing Martin Tyler is also calling on fewer and fewer games, leaving Peter Drury as the only one at the top of his game right now.
The 54-year-old commentator can make a simple Mohamed Salah tap-in sound like it’s a goal for the ages which pretty much sums him up as an elite commentator. However, this does not mean that he exaggerates his commentary but instead he just goes on about it effortlessly.
Champion is a beloved name in households not only in England but across the world, and his fans regularly tune in to the United States’ Major League Soccer to watch him in action as he is now employed as their lead play-by-play commentator. Otherwise, one could simply click on any of his commentary compilations on YouTube and witness the man in all his glory.
2. Martin Tyler
Sergio Aguero’s title-winning goal against Queens Park Rangers on the final day of the 2011-12 Premier League season is incomplete without Martin Tyler’s screeching commentary in the background. The Englishman, who lifted the roof up with his famous “Aguerooooooooo” has been one of football’s most celebrated commentators in all of history.
At 74, Tyler is a full-time commentator, the default voice in the EA Sports’ FIFA video game series and the assistant manager of Woking FC, who participate in the fifth-tier of English football.
Throughout his career, Tyler has worked with Premier League Productions, Sky Sports, SBS (Australia) and Fox in the United States. For fans old and new, he has always been the voice of football. In 2003, he was voted as the Commentator of the Decade by the English Football Association.
Some of his most iconic pieces of commentary include Federico Macheda’s winner against Aston Villa, Ryan Giggs’ solo goal against Arsenal in the 1999 FA Cup final, Didier Drogba’s incredible header to take the 2011-12 Champions League final into extra time, David Beckham’s free-kick against Greece in the 2002 World Cup and the list can go on.
But perhaps, what he is most famously known for around the globe is his brilliant work on Aguero’s title-winner. In a documentary released by Manchester City in 2017 to commemorate that historic day, Tyler said:
“It was like a Hollywood feature film. After I said ‘Aguero’ with a lot of o’s at the end, there was a period of silence. That’s partly because pictures tell stories better than words and the fact that Mark Hughes, the following night, told me that it was the noisiest moment in a football ground that he had ever experienced.”
In recent years, Tyler has attracted heavy scrutiny and criticism for his lacklustre commentary in many high-profile games and one could say that his best years might be behind him. For all his legacy, however, he remains one of the sport’s most illustrious commentators of all time.
1. Peter Drury
Football poet Peter Drury is arguably the best commentator the sport has ever seen. The 52-year-old has been in the commentary business for the last three decades and has overseen some of the biggest games in world football. He commentates in the Premier League’s biggest matches of the week, whilst also undertaking FA Cup and Champions League duties with BT Sport.
It might not be an understatement to say that the Englishman can enhance the viewing experience of any football game, be it a Manchester derby or an FA Cup third-round tie involving two amateur teams. He has an almost literary style of commentating, in which he would try to dramatise even the smallest events of the match. His excellent reading of the game, tactical analysis, and expressive viewpoints make him one of the most highly-regarded commentators in the football business.
It could be hard to choose Drury’s most iconic commentaries but few definitely stand out. Drury is famed for his commentary when Kostas Manolas scored the equalising goal against Barcelona in the 2017-18 Champions League quarter-final which steered Roma into the last-four of the competition. After the Greek centre-back’s towering header, Drury screamed, “Roma have risen from their ruins, Manolas, the Greek God in Rome”, in a bit of commentary which is something that even non-English speakers appreciate.
Tyler’s legendary “Aguero” moment perhaps overshadowed Drury’s commentary on the incident, which was another scintillating piece of work by the British commentator when he shouted “staggering, just staggering” before saying “the blue moon has risen” at the final whistle.
Drury also has some amazing moments in FIFA World Cups, most notably in the 2010 edition in South Africa when Siphiwe Tshabalala scored an absolute rocket in what was the host nation’s and the tournament’s first goal. He has also been roped in by football video game giants Pro Evolution Soccer to be their primary commentator of the franchise. His excellent chemistry with Jim Beglin can not only be witnessed live but in the virtual world too.
It is a given that many football fans will open their television sets immediately if Drury is in the box, but the humble commentator vehemently denies it:
“I say this to everybody: people tune in for the football, not for the commentary. You only switch on to watch the match. A commentator might annoy you or he might please you, but he’s not who you’re watching. And as a commentator, you get lucky when you get a great moment like that [Manolas’ goal].”
As far as we’re concerned, we’re just lucky to be watching football with Mr. Peter Drury.
