Derek Rae’s – Derek Rae, a Massachusetts resident since 1994 and one of Fox’s World Cup play-by-play voices, is preparing to call Scotland’s 2026 World Cup games—while revealing how the tournament in Boston in 1993-1994 reshaped his life, his career, and even his identity a
On a North Shore drive-through, Derek Rae remembers being recognized in the simplest way—someone just asked if he was “that guy from the video game.” He said yes. The question that followed, Rae recalled, was almost disbelief: “The video game guy lives here?”
For Rae. an Aberdeen. Scotland native who has kept some kind of Massachusetts residence since 1994. the joke lands because it’s true. His voice moves through broadcasts across the world. but his roots have stayed close enough that. when Scotland returns to the sport’s biggest stage for the 2026 World Cup in Boston. he’ll feel the pull—just not the crowds.
He’ll be working. And for Rae, that means the distance between what he’ll hear from a microphone and what he won’t see in person.
Rae told Boston.com that he feels especially sentimental about the North End after his time working during the 1993-1994 World Cup period. when he lived right on Prince Street. He described walking to work—about seven or eight minutes—because the office where he was based sat across City Hall Plaza at Government Center.
That neighborhood, he said, remains “quite dear to my heart.” He even offered a recommendation to Scotland fans planning a trip: yes, Boston will be crowded, “but you can’t really go wrong in the North End,” he said, pointing them toward Caffè Paradiso and Caffè dello Sport.
He also personally vouched for Santarpio’s Pizza in East Boston and recommended taking a day trip on the ferry to visit the North Shore.
That’s the version of the story where Rae is able to give advice like a local—someone who remembers what it felt like for the city to welcome the tournament and what it means for visitors when the matches arrive.
But his life also includes the kind of global travel that makes the advice bittersweet.
Rae’s connection to the region didn’t start as a settled plan. He said his move toward Boston began as a dream in the buildup to the 1994 tournament. the first World Cup hosted in the United States. After working as a broadcaster during the 1990 World Cup. he eventually found a role with local officials tied to media relations.
His job, he explained, was to “organize the entire media operation” so everything was ready for the World Cup. One of his biggest challenges was dealing with what he described as “considerable hostility” from local press at the time.
He said the work wasn’t only operational. It was also public relations—trying to bridge skepticism with the reality of the event. Rae believes the effort helped. He said. “I think we did convert some people. ” adding that once the event came. people came around: “OK. now I get it. now I see what you’re talking about and why this is just on a different level.”.
After ’94, Rae returned to broadcast journalism instead of staying with the organizing side. Still, he said the experience taught him something durable about the United States—how it works and how it works differently from Europe.
And even now, with 2026 issues swirling ahead of the tournament, he said he was perplexed that no one reached out for advice from the 1993-1994 press officer who had done the work.
Rae said he was “slightly disappointed” that none of the current World Cup organizers thought to contact him. He framed what he had to offer plainly: “Maybe he has some learnings from then that we can pass along. I never heard from anybody at all on the organizational side.”
His tie to Massachusetts, though, is no longer just professional. He said he met his wife here around that time. that she’s a North Shore native. and that they later bought a home in the area. Even as his career expanded—he currently spends much of the season in Germany and the U.K. working for multiple networks—the family kept the North Shore home.
“It’s a really nice place to be able to come back to and chill out for a little bit between events and get ready for the next one,” Rae said. He added that the Boston area has been “a big chunk” of their lives since those early World Cup days in the early ’90s.
That history connects to another identity he carries at the same time: the voice behind EA Sports FC.
Rae became the official play-by-play commentator for the video game franchise after a tryout in 2018. He joined the annually released series in what he described as a privileged invitation. He said the role has had an “incredible” effect and has also been occasionally funny.
For many people, especially among younger fans, he’s best known as “the video game guy,” Rae said. He told the drive-through story again as proof: someone chatted with him, recognized him, and then seemed astonished that the voice connected to the game also belongs to a neighbor living nearby.
If the Massachusetts side of Rae’s life is rooted in place and routine, the soccer side still requires movement.
Rae is one of the most recognizable voices in world soccer, and he’s worked every World Cup since 1990. Ahead of 2026, he said it has been thrilling to see Scotland return to the sport’s biggest stage in Boston.
He recalled watching Scotland at the 1974 World Cup as a child. but he’s especially excited by what’s happening now. Rae said there is “an entire generation” below his own that “has not known Scotland at a World Cup. ” calling this “brand new.” He believes that’s part of why so many Scots decided to make the trip to the USA. specifically to Boston for summer. pointing to a “28-year hiatus.”.
He also said Boston has “struck it lucky having Scotland.” Even though he acknowledged his bias. Rae tied his confidence to what he saw in Germany during the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship. Scotland qualified and sent a huge group of fans to Germany. and Rae said German fans were especially excited about Scotland’s presence.
He added that Scottish fans were voted the most popular fans after the event by a number of different polls. Rae said people in Germany still talk about how great the experience was—about the color Scotland brought and the personality it added—and he expects the same will happen in Boston.
He sounded thrilled when he talked about calling World Cup games again, but he sounded resigned when it came to who he would actually get to watch.
The schedule, he said, will take him elsewhere. Rae noted that he will be on the call for four games in the first week. And while Scotland’s team is coming to Boston, Rae said he will miss the moment that would matter most to many people—being there among the “Tartan Army.”
“The funny thing is that my country is coming to Boston, but I will see precisely none of that,” he said.
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