Stone to Serve as Fox's Primetime Studio Host for WWC

Fox Sports has tapped Rob Stone as its primetime studio host for its upcoming coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup this summer from Canada.

Stone, the programmer's top futbol studio host, will helm the shows, including pregame, halftime and postgame coverage, and other FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015-related fare throughout the month-long tournament from its studio on Coal Harbor in Vancouver. 

Stone, a former Division I soccer player at Colgate, has been with Fox Sports since January 2012, joining from ESPN, where he was involved with the Bristol behemoth's 2006 World Cup coverage from Germany.  At Fox, Stone has led coverage of the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and other top soccer leagues in Europe, in addition to hosting college football and college basketball studio programming. Stone is set to work with a team of Fox Sports soccer analysts to be announced at a later date.

21st Century Fox, which began counting down the 100 days to the distaff tourney with a 30-second promo roadblocked on 34 networks on Feb. 24, will present all 52 matches from Canada, including an unprecedented 16 live on its broadcast network. Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 will also be in game play, flanked by simulcasts on authenticated TVE service, Fox Sports Go.

“Rob is an exceptional studio host with a deep understanding of international soccer, so he is the perfect choice to anchor our Women’s World Cup coverage in prime time,” said David Neal, executive producer for Fox Sports' 2015 WWC coverage.  “An event like this is similar to an Olympics, with many moving parts, and excellent hosts are smart, personable and have a little traffic cop inside them. Rob brings those attributes to the job every day.”

Noted Stone: “Covering a massive global tournament in this role is what few in our industry get the opportunity to do, and I am honored that FOX Sports has entrusted this responsibility to me.I passionately care about this sport and am excited to get started, especially following the excitement we saw during last summer’s World Cup.”

All told, Fox will serve more than 200 WWC hours from north of the border, beginning with reports on America's Pregame and Fox Sports Live on June 4, a preview show the next day and the start of group play on June 6.