SOCCER PLAY-BY-PLAY ANNOUNCER
SOCCER PLAY-BY-PLAY ANNOUNCER
John Strong is FOX Sports’ lead soccer play-by-play announcer. He is the voice of many of the biggest matches FOX Sports has to offer across several properties including the FIFA World Cup™, U.S. Men’s National team (USMNT), FIFA World Cup™ qualifying, Major League Soccer (MLS), Concacaf Gold Cup, Concacaf Champions League, Conmebol Copa America, Copa America Centenario, UEFA and more.
Strong and former USMNT midfielder Stu Holden were the lead play-by-play announcer and analyst, respectively, for FOX Sports’ coverage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and FIFA World Cup Russia 2018™. The Strong-Holden broadcast booth pairing has called over 300 soccer matches together since 2014 — more than any other English-language television duo.
Strong joined the FOX Soccer Channel in August 2012, while still calling the Portland Timbers and working soccer broadcasts at NBC. In 2015, Strong went full time with FOX Sports as a play-by-play announcer for its coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada™, MLS, FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers and other international soccer events. He’s since been a fixture across FOX Sports’ soccer portfolio, and has contributed to other properties, including serving as FOX Sports’ play-by-play announcer at the 2020 and 2021 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Masters Agility Championship.
Strong has regularly contributed to the network’s coverage of the Concacaf Champions League and Concacaf Women’s World Cup Qualifying. He has called various U.S. soccer friendlies, including the USMNT’s "Dos A Cero" victory against Mexico in April 2015. As the lead play-by-play voice for the UEFA Europa League, he called the 2013 and 2014 Final, and also hosted studio coverage for FOX Sports’ coverage of the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup, as well as whip-around UEFA Champions League show "MultiMatch 90." Before joining FOX Sports, Strong served as lead play-by-play announcer for MLS on NBC Sports and as a fill-in host for the network’s studio coverage of the Barclays Premier League.
Strong was previously the radio and television voice of the MLS’ Portland Timbers, with many of those telecasts appearing on FOX Sports Northwest. During the 2011 season, his call of a goal by the Timbers’ Darlington Nagbe was named MLS "Broadcast Call of the Year" and had nearly 2 million YouTube views. In 2012, Strong was honored as the Oregon Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sports Writers Association.
A graduate of the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, Strong was active at Oregon’s campus station KWVA, where he called University of Oregon women’s soccer, softball and lacrosse. Strong began his broadcast career in high school where he founded Laker Broadcasting for Lake Oswego High School and called football and basketball games.
Strong was born and raised in Portland, where he still lives with his wife, two kids, two dogs and three cats. His wife, Nicole, played soccer at Washington State, competed at the 2009 Women’s Copa Libertadores, and was the 2011 WPSL Golden Boot winner with the Portland Rain.
