Thomas Frank Lands BBC Sport World Cup Pundit Role
Thomas Frank has signed a deal with Sport as one of its main analysts for the World Cup, his first public TV role since being sacked by Tottenham in February. He will appear across a tournament made up of 104 matches, and his move puts him in direct competition with Ange Postecoglou, who has taken a pundit job with ITV.
Frank and Postecoglou
The pair left Tottenham in different ways but will now face each other from rival studios this summer. Frank was dismissed after a spell that brought 13 wins from 38 games, a 34.2% win ratio that was the worst of any permanent manager in Tottenham’s history.
He spent seven successful years at Brentford before taking the Tottenham job, but his time there ended before he could settle the argument over his record. Igor Tudor followed him as interim manager and lasted 44 days, losing five and drawing one match.
Postecoglou’s route to ITV was shorter still. His spell at Nottingham Forest ended after 39 days, and he was dismissed 18 minutes after a home defeat by Chelsea in October.
and ITV coverage
The broadcasters share UK rights and will show all 104 matches live between them. The will carry 54 games, while ITV has 51, and the final on 19 July is the only match both will show live.
For England viewers, ITV has the first game against Croatia on 17 June, the final group match against Panama, and the quarter-final if Thomas Tuchel’s side get that far. The will show England’s second group game against Ghana, plus knockout ties in the last 32, last 16 and semi-finals.
Salford and New York
The team will stay in Salford until at least the quarter-finals, while ITV will base its coverage from its New York studio. ’s World Cup line-up also includes Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates, with Olivier Giroud, Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart and Alan Shearer among the pundits. ITV’s coverage will be fronted by Mark Pougatch and Laura Woods, with Andros Townsend, Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Roy Keane also part of the studio team.
The sharper audience test may come when the two broadcasters go head to head. The took a peak audience of 15 million for the 2022 final between Argentina and France, while ITV drew 4.3m for the same match.
