Former Independence fan favorite Lianne Sanderson is now one of women’s soccer’s top broadcasters

Local soccer fans who have tuned into Fox’s broadcasts of this summer’s women’s European Championship have heard a lot of voices with Philly ties: Carli Lloyd and Julie Ertz in the studio, Lori Lindsey as a game analyst, JP Dellacamera on play-by-play.

There’s also one more whom those fans might not realize also has a major local connection.

Fifteen years ago, Lianne Sanderson made the former Philadelphia Independence her first of many club stops in the United States. The English forward enjoyed a long and varied playing career and turned to broadcasting not long after hanging up her cleats in 2019.

Her work these days sees her often return to this country. Sanderson has called NWSL games for outlets including CBS, ESPN, and Amazon’s Prime Video, and this year joined Fox for the Euros’ group stage. She also still visits the Philadelphia area regularly to see friends she’s kept over the years.

“To be honest, it’s probably my favorite city I’ve ever lived in,” Sanderson said in an interview ahead of Sunday’s final, an England-Spain rematch of the 2023 World Cup final (noon, Fox29, TUDN).

She added: “I think I always compared everything to Philadelphia because of our team, the camaraderie, the feeling — making it to the championship in the first season, in your inaugural season as an expansion team, is kind of unheard of. And we just had a great time. I look back on that, and I remember it like it was yesterday.”

Working on both sides of the Atlantic has given Sanderson perspective on the cultural differences between the U.S. and England. Though they may be two countries separated by a common language, as the old saying goes, there are definite contrasts in the countries’ sporting and media cultures.

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“I’ve got my own show in England on [the] radio, and I absolutely love it, but I do think Americans are more open to someone like myself,” she said. “I don’t think my opinions are always welcome in England with regards to honesty. I’m not malicious, I critique what I see, and I say what I see. … That’s not for everybody, and that’s also fine.”

Sanderson has always been outspoken and a bit of an iconoclast. That can play well in the U.S., and it certainly did in Philadelphia. But her ways haven’t always been as popular in England.

“I felt like when I first moved to America as a soccer player, I felt more embraced as an individual,” Sanderson said. “I think in England people misunderstood me a lot, and I think they still do. Whereas in America I find — you know, I’m not perfect but I’m a good person. I love people, I respect them, and I think for some reason Americans seem to like me a lot more.”

She also has a front-row seat to the ever-growing rivalry between the U.S. and England in women’s soccer. Their national teams are the reigning Olympic and European champions, respectively, with England aiming for a second straight continental title, and their club leagues regularly compete to land top talent.

Sanderson played for U.S. manager Emma Hayes early in her career, and they’ve remained friends ever since — in fact, Hayes will be a guest at Sanderson’s wedding in a few weeks. Any national team manager naturally wants players competing at the highest level possible, and Hayes has said she’s happy to encourage players to go to Europe if the situation is right. Sanderson gets that there’s a balance to keep.

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“It’s difficult, because she wants her players to play in the best leagues in the world, the most competitive, and that play probably the system and way that she’d like to play,” Sanderson said. “So it’ll be interesting to see if more players do start to go to Europe, if more players stay in the [U.S.] league.”

She admitted she “selfishly” wants them to stay in the NWSL, and not just because she broadcasts those games.

“I think the [English] WSL is fantastic when it comes to skill set, but I think the overall package in America is better,” Sanderson said of England’s Women’s Super League, whose abbreviation can trip up new fans over here.

Many American players who grow up watching big English clubs on TV, whether in the WSL or the men’s Premier League, want to play for them some day. They also see that there’s a women’s Champions League, a brand name with prestige that no U.S. competition can match.

That reputation is enhanced by American stars who’ve gone to England over the years, including the current contingent: Emily Fox and Jenna Nighswonger helped Arsenal win last season’s Champions League, Catarina Macario and Naomi Girma helped Chelsea win a sixth straight WSL title, and Phallon-Tullis Joyce may have earned the U.S. team’s starting goalkeeper job with her play for Manchester United.

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But beneath the glitzy surface is a less-fashionable truth. When you go past the big four teams in the WSL — Chelsea, Arsenal, United, and Manchester City — there’s a big drop in talent level and financial resources. That leads to a lot of lopsided games.

Not every team in the NWSL has the talent to compete with Europe’s elite, and the rule-makers haven’t loosened the purse strings enough yet to let U.S. clubs chase all the stars. Still, the league’s competitive balance means that every game is fiercely contested. England’s league and the rest of Europe’s domestic circuits can’t match that, and many aren’t close.

As long as that competitive dynamic remains in place, the NWSL will always be attractive. It’s why players like Spain’s Esther González, England’s Rachel Daly and Jess Carter, France’s Delphine Cascarino and Amandine Henry, and Germany’s Ann-Katrin Berger are among the European headliners who’ve enjoyed playing here in recent years.

“That’s the NWSL — anyone can genuinely beat anyone on any given day,” Sanderson said. “The WSL, one of the things that I don’t like about it is the fact that every team that gets promoted seems to get relegated again. We’ve almost got a ‘Super League’ within a Super League, when you see the big heavy hitters at the top.”

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She hopes the NWSL keeps growing not just financially, but in its number of teams, and she’d like that to include Philadelphia. The odds seem slim at the moment, but there are whispers around town of a potential expansion bid coming together, and commissioner Jessica Berman has said she’d like to add the city some day.

When Boston Legacy FC joins the league next year, Philadelphia and Atlanta will be the only cities left that had teams in the NWSL’s predecessor leagues, WPS and the USA, but don’t have a team now.

“I’m quite surprised that we haven’t had [a team there] since we played in WPS, but I do think it’s a city that is a great sporting city, along with when I played in Boston,” Sanderson said. “I’m delighted that Boston [is] coming back in. For Philly, I’d be delighted if they were to be able to bring a new team in, and I’d certainly welcome that.”