MUMBAI: Zee Sports has signed one of England's top football voices John Helm and former England international football player Russell Osman as commentator and co-commentator respectively for the 27th edition of the Federation Cup, to be played at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Margao in Goa starting 19 October.
Helm, one of Europe's top football commentators for the last 25 years, has covered several World Cups and European Championships. In a career spanning two decades, he has commentated on about 2000 football matches. In his long career he has worked with ITV, the top commercial channel in the UK and Channel Five, the newest mass distribution channel in the United Kingdom, states an official release.
Osman is an ex-England international footballer, capped on eleven occasions. He played over 800 top-level games for Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Southampton and Bristol City. At Ipswich he was a member of the team that won the UEFA Cup in 1981 and came runners up, in what is now called the Premier league, in 1980/81 and 1981/82. In the past he has managed Bristol City and Cardiff City. In the past he has worked as media commentator with Sky Sports, Eurosport, ITV, Channel 5 and BBC5.
Zee Sports COO Gary Lovejoy said, "We are delighted to welcome John and Russell to the Zee Sports commentary panel for Federation Cup. They bring with them vast experience of covering and playing in the best of international football from around the world. They will add a lot of value in providing a perspective to the world-class coverage of Federation Cup." He further added, "Our coverage will also involve more cameras, more replays, a new graphic look and interactive."
Zee Sports is undertaking a multi media marketing and promotional campaign across the country to popularise the football among the masses. As part of the campaign several below the line activities including road shows, pub screening, football kiosks etc are being undertaken in several cities to popularise the football.
To promote the Federation Cup a special section on Indian football has been created on Zee Sports website www.zeesports.co.in. This section provides soccer fans with the latest team news, match scores, statistics and player profiles, as well as exclusive player interviews and photo galleries. There will be interactive sections, which will include chat rooms, video clips of matches, online games, wallpapers and ring tones, the release adds.
