Wayne Rooney, Luis Figo, others on Viacom18 Sports’ panel for FIFA World Cup

The sportspersons will be on Sports18 – 1 and OTT platform JioCinema. The two will live-stream the matches and offer curated content around the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 in five languages. The panel will be part of its ‘Visa Match Centre Live’. This will include analysis, pitch-side coverage and locker room access. It will be an immersive studio show customized in all five languages.

Rooney, a striker and England’s all-time top goal-scorer, will be joined by Portuguese legend and Ballon d’Or winner Luis Figo, who led his country to the semifinals in 2006, their best finish at a FIFA World Cup since 1966.‘The Invincibles’ teammates Sol Campbell, Robert Pires and Gilberto Silva will also speak. Campbell, the company said, is the only player to have represented England in six consecutive major tournaments, playing in 1996, 2000 and 2004 Euros; and 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, while Pires was an integral part of France’s 1998 World Cup-winning team and Silva was Brazil’s defensive rock in the 2002 World Cup winning campaign.“I am delighted to be in India and joining the network for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. It is my first opportunity to visit the country and get a chance to speak to many of the Indian football fans who supported me during my playing career,” said Wayne Rooney. “I am also excited to be a part of the country’s World Cup experience and excitement.”“I have been fortunate to experience the love for football in India previously and can only imagine how excited the fans will be during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” said Luis Figo. “With the network, not only am I coming back to India, but I will also give the fans a taste of the world’s greatest show.”“From my experience of playing in India, I can safely say that fans know and love football to bits,” said Robert Pires. “We have assembled football royalty to give viewers a FIFA World Cup experience like never before. The expert’s panel line-up is a cherry on top of the offerings fans will have across all our platforms,” said the network’s sports head of content Siddharth Sharma.