Jon Champion

Jon Champion
Born	Jon Champion (1965-05-23) 23 May 1965 Harrogate, UK
Nationality	British
Education	Archbishop Holgate Grammar School, York
Occupation(s)	Journalist, Television sports commentator, PES commentator
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)

Jon Champion (born 23 May 1965 in Harrogate, England) is a footballcommentator who works for ESPN. His late father David Champion was the deputy headmaster of the independent school Bootham School, York. Jon's commentaries can also be heard on the worldwide feed of many Premier League and Carling Cup matches around the globe.

Champion joined BBC Sport in the late 1980's and worked as a football commentator on BBC Radio Five Live for several seasons, before joining the Match of the Day team in 1995. Champion commentated on edited highlights from the English Premier League and FA Cup for six seasons, before switching to ITV Sport in 2001 when they secured Premier League rights.

Champion spent eight seasons with ITV, the last two of which he also worked for Setanta Sports as their lead football commentator on the Premier League and FA Cup. Following the demise of Setanta in 2009, ESPN took over their football portfolio and signed Champion as their chief football commentator in the UK. Although this meant Champion leaving ITV, he worked for them during the 2010 World Cup alongside his ESPN colleague Craig Burley.

Amusing Quotes

A regular figure in Private Eye's Colemanballs, below are a few memorable lines :

• "A full-blooded encounter for a number of reasons, many of them illegitimate."
• "They seem to be in total, if not complete control"
• "Victor Hernandez, like an orchestral conductor directing his troops..."
• "Two late goals, both in the last twenty minutes..."
• "There’s 30 minutes gone and we’re in the first quarter of the game."
• " Given away by Carvalho... here's Rooney, it's a horrible error by the Portuguese!!!"

As a commentator :

• Match Intro - Arsenal vs. Man Utd (January 2007) "Meetings between these clubs are never dull, they are often momentous. League championships have been won... tempers have been lost... pizzas have been thrown."
• In the 94th minute of Turkey vs. Czech Republic (June 2008) "If a spaceship landed in the centre circle, direct from Mars, I wouldn't be surprised now."
• Just after kick off in the England v Czech Republic international friendly (August 2008) "His predecessor was a legend, but he just looks like a plumber." About the Czech Republic manager.
• Manchester United v Middlesbrough (December 2008) "And here is Ronaldo...and he's fallen over."
• Newcastle's 3 - 0 loss to Liverpool (May 2009) and two matches shy of relegation, after a lingering camera shot from behind the goal in which a knotted bit of netting can be seen. "Is that the hangman's rope in the picture there? . . . Newcastle, hovering over the trap door."
• Liverpool vs. Everton (January 2009), after a goal by Joleon Lescott "As a paid-up member of the centre-backs' union, he'll be forced to retire after scoring from there."
• Arsenal vs. Chelsea 0-3 (November 2009), after Didier Drogba's opening goal: "Same old story! Arsenal play the football; Chelsea have the goal!"

Other Media

He has been commentator in the Pro Evolution Soccer series since PES 2008. He will again feature in PES 2011 onwards, this time not alongside Mark Lawrenson (who featured in the game for as long a period of time as Champion) but with newly-installed co-commentator Jim Beglin.

World Cup 2010

Champion was selected as a commentator for ITV at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and most notably of all his matches, he commentated on the Holland v Japan match in the group stages.

External links

• Jon Champion at itv.com

• [nijawap.wapka.mobi]