Viewers in the United Kingdom will enjoy the input of fresh expertise on ITV’s coverage of World Cup 2026 with Christina Unkel returning to the broadcaster.
American football watchers will be familiar with former top level official Unkel, who has been a regular part of CBS’ broadcasts of the sport over the last few years.
The 39-year-old made her debut for the UK broadcaster during Euro 2024, with ITV looking to offer expert insight into the officiating at the tournament.
A former collegiate soccer player in the United States, Unkel is an experienced former Fifa referee who took up officiating at the age of 10.
A qualified litigation lawyer, Unkel was a featured analyst during the 2019 Women’s World Cup for Fox Sports and has worked as a columnist for The Athletic and CBS Sports covering refereeing and legal issues within the game.
She has also operated within football in a rather different capacity — in July 2024, Unkel was appointed president of the newly-formed Tampa Bay Sun FC.
Unkel took part in ITV’s opening broadcast, explaining the major rule changes that will be brought into this summer’s tournament.
There will be five law changes, primarily aiming to speed up play and reduce time-wasting from teams. The referee chiefs are hopeful they will help limit the amount of stoppage time, which reached remarkable levels in 2022.
The VAR protocols have also been tweaked for the tournament, with video assistant referees now having new powers to intervene if fouls are committed immediately before the ball is in play at set-pieces.
To counter time-wasting, there is now a throw-in countdown, a goal-kick countdown, time-limited substitutions, while player who are treated by the physio must stay off the field for 60 seconds.
Additionally, any player covering their mouth in a confrontational situation with an opponent may be sanctioned with a red card. This is in light of the controversy surrounding Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni and Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr in a Champions League game in February.
The presence of an ex-referee as part of a broadcast team has become more common over the last decade, with former Premier League official Peter Walton a BT Sport/TNT Sports stalwart and Mike Dean stepping into a regular role with Sky Sports after retiring last year. The addition of the video assistant referee (VAR) to football has created more opportunities for ex-officials to explain decisions made on the pitch.
