Who is Kate Scott? Versatile CBS presenter to host 2026 Ballon d'Or alongside Champions League duties originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Kate Scott has blossomed into one of television's most beloved sports presenters.
The 45-year-old English-born talent has amassed a glittering resume of TV shows, award ceremonies, live event coverage, star interviews, and much more as she brings football to fans around the world.
While she is currently plays a starring role on Champions League coverage in the United States, Scott has been all over the world presenting and covering football, boxing, and more.
The Sporting News details Scott's award-winning career as she prepares to host the 2026 Ballon d'Or gala, one of the most visible award ceremonies in football. It will be her third Ballon d'Or ceremony as host.
LIVE:Ballon d'Or 2026 updates as winners and final awards results are announced
Where is Kate Scott from?
Hailing from Manchester, England, Kate Scott (formerly Kate Abdo) is a sports presenter who currently covers European soccer for CBS Sports in the United States.
As a student, Scott moved to Spain and earned a degree from the University of Malaga in 2003, also earning a degree from the University of Salford in the UK.
She began her broadcasting career in Germany covering the Bundesliga as a production assistant for Goal! The Bundesliga Magazine and has since worked in the UK, Spain, France, and now the United States.
Abdo revealed in a 2023 interview with Peter Schmeichel that her father, Tom Giles, is a Manchester United fan, and Tom appeared as a special guest during the interview.
Abdo said she grew up attending games at Old Trafford with her father, but her mother is a Liverpool supporter.
She is of Guyanese decent on her mother's side, through her grandmother.
Kate Scott, soccer host: TV career
Kate Scott is currently the host of CBS Sports coverage of the UEFA Champions League in the United States, a position she has held since first signing on in 2020. She is joined most frequently on the show by Jamie Carragher, Micah Richards, and Thierry Henry, where the four have developed an award-winning rapport.
In June 2023, the network announced that Scott had signed a new four-year contract to continue her Champions League hosting duties.
Prior to that, Scott started covering football hostingBundesliga coverage in Germany before bouncing around between multiple countries.
While covering soccer across the globe, her career has been highlighted by various roles in major events, such as her invitation to present the Europa League group stage draw on three different occasions, and hosting back-to-back Ballon d'Or award ceremonies in 2014 and 2015. She hosted the 2024 CAF Award ceremony where Ademola Lookman won the coveted CAF Player of the Year. She also hosted last year's Ballon d'or event.
Scott has also worked significantly in combat sports broadcasting, hosting a boxing show for Fox, presenting boxing events for Sky Sports, and contributing to DAZN's UFC coverage.
She made headlines in 2021 for hosting a press conference for a fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury in which she believed the two would have a face-off, for which promoter Bob Arum was not prepared.
Arum used foul language in reference to Scott, who responded by calling them "entirely inappropriate." Arum subsequently apologized.
Scott has moved around, working with different broadcasters as companies bring her on based on the acquisition of broadcast rights for specific properties which are regularly changing hands. In soccer, Scott has worked at different points for Fox, Sky Sports, Turner, and now CBS where she hosts UEFA competition coverage.
She also hosted a "World Sports" show for CNN early in her career, where she covered a various number of topics, and covered the 2022 FIFA World Cup from Qatar for Fox.
How many languages does Kate Scott speak?
Kate Scott has demonstrated conversational fluidity in an impressive four languages during her broadcast career, speaking on various occasions in English, French, German, and Spanish.
She has become well-known for her verbal versatility, once translating all three different European languages listed above back to Enlgish in one single Champions League post-match show back in 2022.
Who is Kate Scott married to?
In early 2024, Kate Abdo married former professional boxer Malik Scott.
The 44-year-old won the U.S. AAU heavyweight championship, and would go on to produce a stellar 70-3 record before retiring from competition in 2016. He then went on to coach, where he would be hired by Deontay Wilder in 2021.
Her engagement and impending marriage was a frequent topic on Champions League studio shows, where Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards would repeatedly make jokes about her relationship status.
It even got Carragher in a bit of hot water when he made an on-air joke in poor taste regarding Scott's fidelity to her then-fiance.
Scott had previously been married to European businessman Ramtin Abdolmajid, from whom she took her previous last name "Abdo" for media presentation purposes.