AnnouncementsESPNESPN DeportesSoccer

Palomo preps to cover UEFA Champions League Final, EURO 2016, Olympics

Photo of Gabriela NunezGabriela Nunez Follow on Twitter May 10, 2016
(L-R) Analysts Tato Noriega, Hugo Sanchez and play-by-play commentator Fernando Palomo (Courtesy Fernando Palomo's Twitter)
(L-R) ESPN soccer analysts Tato Noriega and Hugo Sanchez join play-by-play commentator Fernando Palomo.
(Photo courtesy of Fernando Palomo’s Twitter)

Fernando Palomo will join 21 other ESPN and ESPN Deportes soccer match commentators who will be calling the action during the UEFA European Championship, Friday, June 10, through Sunday, July 10.

Front Row caught up with him to learn about his preparations for EURO 2016 and his hectic summer schedule that also includes calling the UEFA Champions League Final from Milan (May 28) and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

I am going to grasp everything that I go through in these coming months because you never know when the chance is going to come back at you again. I am not going to look past the Champions League or the EURO because I am excited about the Olympics.
– Fernando Palomo

You are covering three major events for ESPN within a short period of time. How do you prepare?
For the Olympic Games, I have been fortunate enough to be assigned to host a show around Rio 2016, Countdown to Rio, that has been airing across Latin America since last year. These have helped me get familiar with the athletes and the sports that are not on my radar all the time. I also take time to catch up on the latest news and events.

As we speak right now, I am preparing the lineup of countries for the Opening Ceremonies…And then there is Euro 2016. The event has been another side job since December. We just have to keep an eye on the stories for each country. It also helps me a lot that I follow European soccer every day by hosting Fuera de Juego and doing Bundesliga and Champions League. We are taking it one game at a time.

What is your role at EURO 2016?
I will be calling 16 matches for ESPN Deportes, including the opening match and the final. When I don’t call matches, I am always available to do reports, write columns or do analysis for any of our platforms – in both [English and Spanish].

What excites you the most about EURO 2016?
You are talking about some of the best national teams out there, been in the stadiums, feeling the atmosphere and been able to relay that to our viewers. It is such a vast set up of teams that are contenders for the title that is going to be extremely exciting just to see how that plays up, especially with this new format…and France is such a beautiful country. I am also looking forward to the lunches before the games and the dinners. That’s exciting too!

What do you look forward the most during this unique experience of covering these set of events in one summer?
I am going to grasp everything that I go through in these coming months because you never know when the chance is going to come back at you again. I am not going to look past the Champions League or the EURO because I am excited about the Olympics. I am going to enjoy these events as much as I can. And then once the Olympic flame goes out, I am going to enjoy vacations as you never have seen me do it before!

Photo of Gabriela NunezGabriela Nunez Follow on Twitter May 10, 2016
Back to top button