SPORT – especially football – was once a man’s world with few female presenters, but recently, a host of ambitious, skilled women have been taking their seats in the studios.
As Euro 2024 kicks off, we look at those at the forefront of the action.
Alex Scott, 39
Highs: She made broadcasting history in August 2018 as the first female pundit on Sky Sports’ Super Sunday show, and in 2021 as the first female presenter to front BBC’s Football Focus in its 47-year history.
Lows: Alex’s meteoric rise to the top triggered sexist abuse, with trolls telling her she should be at home ironing or cooking, and others even threatening her life.
The relentless abuse left her so low that in 2019 she turned to therapy to help her cope.
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Other half: She was spotted with singer Jess Glynne at Wimbledon in July 2023, and the loved-up pair were recently seen at this year’s Cannes film festival.
On her relationship, Alex said: “I am more open to accepting and being more vulnerable, and I’m absolutely enjoying this stage.”
Career path: Following a youth spent kicking balls about in a concrete cage on an estate in London’s Tower Hamlets (her “happy place”) and being scouted by Arsenal Ladies manager Vic Akers when she was eight, Alex made 148 appearances over the course of her club career, and went on to captain the team.
Things went stratospheric when she made her debut for the Lionesses in 2004, marking the start of a 13-year-long international career spanning three World Cups and four UEFA Women’s Euro tournaments.
Hanging up her boots for the last time in 2017 – when she was also awarded an MBE for her services to football – Alex was determined to make it in the male-dominated world of sports punditry, and even went back to school to study broadcast media.
“I decided if I was going be a pundit, I was going to do it properly,” she said.
“Women go to football matches, we love sport, we sit on our sofas and watch it… It shouldn’t be a big deal.”
But her arrival at the studios was a big deal, and those ground-breaking roles at Sky Sports and the BBC were followed by her coverage of last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Alex has also used her platform to speak out against domestic violence, revealing her own traumatic childhood in her 2022 memoir How (Not) To Be Strong.
In 2023, she became an ambassador for Refuge, after donating profits from her memoir to the domestic abuse charity.
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And she showed solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in 2022 at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, when she wore a OneLove armband during pre-match coverage.
As she nears the big 4-0 later this year, it’s clear Alex is as ambitious as ever.
But she is also a grafter – one of her first jobs at 16 was a “scrubber”, washing the Arsenal men’s team kits.
Reflecting on that time, she said she was always determined to do what she had to in order to succeed: “I know that there’s more for me and I’m going to get there.” And boy, did she ever.
She says . . .
On the women’s game: “Football is a better place with us all in it.”
On criticism: “Keep throwing the hate at me, keep throwing everything at me, because it’s about the bigger picture.”
On what’s next for football: “The future looks bright. While we have a long way to go, we have made so much progress already.”
Laura Woods, 36
Highs: She went from her first job as a runner at Sky Sports to lead presenter at TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) for UEFA Champions League and boxing coverage.
A personal highlight was landing the job as TalkSPORT’s breakfast presenter in March 2020, where she became a fan favourite before moving on in June last year.
Lows: Laura recently had to step away from the small screen after a freak accident.
She said: “I swung a pillow and hit a large, glass lampshade hanging from the ceiling above me, which shattered and cut my face and arms, but luckily missed my eyes.”
She also had to deal with an obsessed female stalker who left her living in “real fear”.
The sick campaign, which began in June 2021 and lasted until September 2023, had an “enormous and devastating” effect.
Harneet Kaur, 25, pleaded guilty to stalking and was jailed for 14 months in February.
Other half: Laura was single for five years before falling for Love Island star Adam Collard.
The pair started dating last October after the 29 year old slid into Laura’s DMs.
He actually first saw her in the Fabulous building when she was working at TalkSPORT.
Adam explained: “The funny part of the story is, for a football fan as well, I actually didn’t know who she was! Well, I knew her face, but I didn’t know she was Laura Woods.”
Career path: Laura found her way into sports presenting because of her football fan dad and two older brothers.
She studied print journalism at Kingston University and wrote match reports for the student newspaper.
While travelling during her uni holidays, she met someone who had done work experience at Sky Sports.
They shared the contact details and Laura bagged herself a week working on Soccer AM.
She said: “I had already done a week’s work experience on a newspaper and decided it wasn’t for me. But in TV, everything was exciting and new – the people, the personalities, the characters.”
After graduating, she landed her first job at Sky Sports as a runner in 2009 and quickly rose up the ranks from editorial assistant to eventually become a producer.
While she built her knowledge about how to make shows, she always wanted to be in front of the camera – and her determination made it happen.
She said: “Live producing was amazing but it didn’t give me the buzz I’d hoped for, so I started making YouTube videos as I didn’t have the opportunity on camera.”
Her series, Off The Oche, found its way on to Sky Darts and she started to pick up presenting work.
In 2020, she joined Ally McCoist on the TalkSPORT breakfast show.
But she had to work hard to win over their 3.6m listeners who were worried about her replacing seasoned pro Alan Brazil.
Speaking that year, she told Fabulous: “There was just so much unpleasantness that I didn’t know how to handle it. I was coming home to my flat on my own. I felt lost and out of my depth. It really did take its toll.”
But she stuck with it and now, she’s the go-to woman after joining TNT Sports last July.
She will also be one of the faces in Germany covering the Euros tournament for ITV.
She says . . .
On putting in the hard work: “Social media will tell you all the time you’re there because you’re a woman. It took me 10 years to work to get to this point. People aren’t just going to put you on screen if you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
On being a woman in sport: “One of the first pieces of ‘advice’ I was ever told was from a producer… He heard I wanted to be a presenter and said: ‘One piece of advice is, for women, you have a much higher height to fall from, so you have to be better.’”
On her inspiration: “Gabby [Logan] was the trailblazer for me. There are so many other amazing women but I remember, as a youngster, thinking she had this way about her, she looked so relaxed.”
Gabby Logan, 51
Highs: She’s one of the most recognisable faces in sports coverage, and one of the most decorated, having won Sports Presenter of the Year four times, plus she was awarded an MBE for services to sports broadcast in 2020.
Lows: Gabby was booted off Strictly after just four weeks in 2007, while her hubby shimmied on until week nine. Awks.
Other half: Gabby describes husband Kenny Logan as her “best friend”.
The former Scotland international rugby player was apparently “dumbstruck” when he first laid eyes on his future wife in a bar in London in 1999.
They tied the knot in July 2001 and had two children through IVF, twins Reuben and Lois, born in 2004.
But in 2022, everything changed when Kenny received a shock prostate cancer diagnosis.
Steadfast Gabby was as cool-headed as ever and said: “I knew I wasn’t going to lose him.” He was given the all-clear last year.
Career path: It’s fair to say that sport has been the linchpin of Gabby’s life.
Growing up with professional footballer dad, Terry Yorath, who captained Wales, it wasn’t the pitch that first piqued the presenter’s interest – it was gymnastics.
Gabby competed in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, before retiring at 17 due to sciatica.
Keen to switch things up, she joined Sky Sports in 1996 – a career that got off to an amusing start when on her first day her spare pair of M&S knickers fell out of her bag as she rushed to get to the studio!
First-day nerves aside, Gabby showed the male-heavy sporting world that women have just as much to give, as she fought her way to become one of the first women to front ITV’s football show On The Ball in 1998.
She later said: “I am sure when I started out, people were shouting: ‘Why is there a woman talking about football on the telly?’ But it was before social media, so I didn’t hear their complaints.”
By 2007, the mum of two headed to the Beeb and has been front-and-centre at most pivotal sporting moments ever since, from the FIFA World Cup to the Euros.
When the Olympic torch rolled into London in 2012, Gabby hosted the opening ceremony at the London Olympic Stadium.
With over 30 years in the industry, the broadcasting legend has presented everything from Final Score to Match Of The Day.
These days, she co-hosts her uber-popular podcasts The Sports Agents and The Mid-Point, sharing notes from midlife with everyone from presenter Matt Baker to singer Gabrielle.
Husband Kenny was even a guest and their chat got a little fruity, with the Logans discussing everything from penis pumps to post-operative sex!
Gabby will be back on the BBC again for this year’s UEFA Euro tournament, along with Alex Scott, Gary Lineker and Mark Chapman.
She says . . .
On the Lionesses’ Euros 2022 win: “You think it’s all over? It’s only just begun.”
On midlife: “My goal is to still do the splits when I’m 60.”
On women in sport: “It is about everybody thinking: ‘I can do things that I did not think were possible before.’”
Photography: Alpha Press, David Fisher/Shutterstock, Instagram/Gabby Logan, Instagram/Laura Woods, Getty Images, Karwai Tang/Wireimage
