JOHN STRONG BIO

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 FIFA World Cups, Major League Soccer, U.S. Men’s National team, FIFA World Cup™ qualifying, Confederations Cup, Concacaf Gold Cup and Copa America Centenario. He has called the UEFA Champions League finals twice, and the UEFA Europa League finals from 2013-16.

He and former U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Stu Holden were the lead play-by-play announcer and analyst, respectively, for FOX Sports' coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™.

Strong joined the FOX Soccer Channel in August of 2012, while still calling the Portland Timbers and working soccer broadcasts at NBC. In 2015, Strong went fulltime with FOX Sports as a play-by-play announcer for its coverage of Major League Soccer (MLS), the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Copa America, World Cup Qualifiers and other international soccer events.

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 U.S. MNT’s "Dos A Cero" victory against Mexico at the sold-out Alamodome in April 2015. As the lead play-by-play voice for the UEFA Europa League, he called the 2013 and 2014 Final, and has 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.