David Villa of New York City takes a pass in front of Walker Zimmerman of Los Angeles FC at Banc of California Stadium on May 13, 2018. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Spanish 2010 World Cup champion David Villa is joining up with Telemundo to boost the network’s coverage of this year’s tournament. Villa and his production company, Designated Player, will create content for the NBC-owned Spanish-language broadcaster.
Villa will produce the video series Como Llegaron, which follows experiences of the Spanish and Portuguese national teams, plus those of eight other Latin American countries. He will also conduct player interviews, including some with former teammates of his such as Andres Iniesta.
“I’m happy to have the opportunity to work with Telemundo Deportes and bring my perspective to this year’s World Cup,” Villa said in a statement. “Soccer’s popularity continues to grow with the American sports fan, and with Designated Player, we will provide various forms of content utilizing my global network as a player, teammate, and champion.”
The content will be available on television and across all of Telemundo’s social channels.
“We’re excited to partner with David—one of the most decorated players in the world—as part of our commitment to producing authentic content for our viewers,” said Ray Warren, President of Telemundo Deportes, in a statement. “We’re committed to providing fans with the best and most authentic content around the World Cup, and those efforts are only enhanced by partnering with such an accomplished player like Villa.”
SportTechie Takeaway
For Telemundo, the World Cup presents a huge opportunity to continue growing its entertainment offerings. In February it partnered with Copa90 to build a Hispanic soccer content creator network, and for the tournament itself the network plans on rolling out roughly 700 hours of coverage, both broadcast on TV and streamed.
It has also created a virtual reality app. In VR, fans will be able to watch live matches and get the feeling of being right there, inside the stadium. They’ll be able to choose between 360-degree, 180-degree or multi-angle feeds, all in near realtime.
