Telemundo & NBC Owned Stations’ Bilingual Podcast ‘My New Favorite Futbolista’ Showcases Most-Inspiring FIFA Women’s World Cup Stars

Beginning June 14, Telemundo and NBC owned stations will present a new season of the bilingual podcast My New Favorite Futbolista / Mi Mundialista Favorita profiling the most-inspiring FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 stars. The 10-part audio and video series is produced in partnership with Telemundo Deportes, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, which begins July 20.

My New Favorite Futbolista will feature a pair of soccer stars – Janelly Farías and Meghan Klingenberg – as co-hosts alongside LX News journalist Eric Alvarez, who returns to the podcast after leading the eight-part series that preceded the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Farías will serve as the Spanish-language co-host, with Klingenberg co-hosting the English version. Alvarez will co-host in both languages. Each episode will also feature local reporters from NBC and Telemundo owned stations in markets connected to the athletes to lead the storytelling.

My New Favorite Futbolista provides in-depth narratives covering emerging and established international soccer stars who display passion and commitment off the field by helping others, advocating for change and supporting causes important to their communities. The featured athletes are expected to represent their countries in the 32-team tournament in Australia and New Zealand this summer. Each 15 to 20-minute episode focuses on a different player or players and includes interviews with the athletes, experts and those closest to them, including family members.

My New Favorite Futbolista includes two first-time partners this season to reach more audiences. Lemonada Media is the exclusive audio sales and distribution partner for this season. On Her Turf is NBC Sports’ multiplatform women’s empowerment brand focused on the athletes and issues surrounding women’s sports.

“These are elite athletes who have worked their entire lives for a chance to represent their countries on the world’s biggest stage, and they are such distinct individuals with unique personal stories and passions,” says Farías. “I’m proud to be a part of this podcast that highlights who they are as people and community members and to help encourage others to support causes important to them.”

Farías currently plays in Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil for C.F. Pachuca and previously competed for Club América and C.D. Guadalajara. Born in Santa Ana, Calif., she has represented Mexico internationally, including in the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championship. The defender played collegiately for the University of California, Irvine, and began her senior career with the San Diego SeaLions of the Women’s Premier Soccer League and L.A. Galaxy OC of United Women’s Soccer.

“The remarkable stories of resilience, compassion and dedication behind these world-class competitors are inspirational,” says Klingenberg. “It’s been a true pleasure to contribute to this project and help showcase the powerful impact athletes can have as role models and leaders. I can’t wait to see them perform on the field this summer and cheer for their continued success off the field.”

Klingenberg won the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup as a member of the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) and was named to the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup All-Star Team and 2015 FIFA FIFPro Women’s World XI. She has 74 total USWNT appearances, including in the 2016 Olympics. The Pittsburgh native is in her eighth season with the NWSL’s Portland Thorns FC, where she has won 2022 and 2017league titles. She played collegiately for the University of North Carolina.

Co-host Alvarez, a second-time contributor to the podcast franchise, joined LX News in 2021 as a show host. He has nearly 15 years of experience covering news, entertainment and sports for TV and radio outlets in Spanish and English. Alvarez, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and earned a master’s degree from the University of Southern California, is an avid soccer fan who has attended three FIFA World Cups.

My New Favorite Futbolista is the fourth season of the franchise. Known during its first two seasons as My New Favorite Olympian, the series launched in June 2021 with a five-episode first season leading up to Tokyo 2020, which was hosted Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad and LX News’ Ngozi Ekeledo. A seven-episode second season hosted by Ekeledo and Olympic legend Apolo Ohno preceded Beijing 2022. Alvarez was joined by Colombian soccer legend Juan Pablo Ángel for the eight-episode third season starting in November 2022, then branded My New Favorite Futbolista.

The first three seasons of the podcast franchise have earned several awards and accolades. My New Favorite Futbolista was recently named ‘Best Spoken Word Series’ at the 2023 Cynopsis Sports Media Awards and was a finalist for ‘Best Soccer Podcast’ at the 2023 Sports Podcast Awards. In 2022, My New Favorite Olympian won Signal Awards for ‘Best Limited Sports Series’ and ‘Best LGBTQ+ Episode’ for its season covering the 2022 Winter Olympics. The first season of the series was also named ’Best Podcast Series’ as part of the 2022 Cynopsis Sports Media Awards.

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