The draw ceremony has a decidedly North American flare to it: Kevin Hart and Danny Ramirez are co-hosting the event along with Heidi Klum, with the trio joined onstage at various points by Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge and Shaquille O’Neal. Eli Manning is hosting the red carpet, and the musical performers are Andrea Bocelli, Robbie Williams, Nicole Scherzinger and the Village People.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a frequent visitor to the Donald Trump White House in the run-up to the tournament, also will be presenting the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize during the ceremony. The recipient has not be revealed, but don’t bet against a certain current U.S. president who might or might not have the real FIFA Club World Cup trophy in the Oval Office after crashing the trophy presentation to Chelsea over the summer in New Jersey.
Former England captain Rio Ferdinand will conduct the actual draw Friday with the help of broadcaster Samantha Johnson.
In the 2022 tournament, the draw process started 50 minutes in.
We will be starting this year’s process 90 minutes in.
I mean, my expectations were low, but that is… Oh well, here’s hoping Australia get an easy draw.
The 5.40am AEDT endtime SBS expects will be off by a country mile.
According to Deadline, USA will kick off their World Cup campaign against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium on June 12, before facing the Socceroos in Seattle on June 19, and the UEFA playoff winner at SoFi Stadium on June 25.
Update: the Socceroos schedule
Australia v UEFA playoff winner at BC Place, Vancouver on June 13
USA v Australia at Lumen Field, Seattle on June 19
Australia v Paraguay at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara on June 25
(US/Canada times)
Full kickoff times revealed for every game.
Australia’s are as follows (AEST):
14 June 2pm - Australia vs Path C
20 June 5am - USA vs Australia
26 June 12pm - Paraguay vs Australia
Would have thought all of USA’s group games would be played in US primetime.
Aside from that, SBS will be thrilled that all of Australia’s group games have viewer-friendly kickoff times.
The USA v Australia game is on the west coast so probably early prime time into the east coast for the coverage. Edit: that 3pm eastern in the US so yes it’s odd it’s not in prime time.
Good start times for all those games. I’ll be watching from the European time zone during June as I won’t be back in Australia until 15 July in 2026.
The first two Socceroos matches are both on a Saturday in Australia. So viewers will definitely tune in for those games on SBS. The third game is on a Friday at 12pm, so a little trickier to watch (work, school, etc)
SBS announces that all Socceroos group stage matches will be live on the main channel.
Yep, pretty obvious to all of us. Aside from simultaneous matchdays, what happens to the other matches?
(Update: The article has been revised to remove the “Live on SBS and SBSOD” phrase. Someone jumped the gun a bit, I think.)
I don’t doubt at all that the socceroos matches will be on the main channel. Where else would they air them?
And I’m sure many of the matches will be on the main channel as has been the case in the past. Simultaneous games will have one match on main channel and the other on vice land like 2022.