John Walker Motson, OBE (born 10 July 1945, in Salford, Lancashire), also known as Motty, is an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he has commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Motson was the dominant football commentary figure at the BBC, apart from a brief spell in the 1990s, when his friend and rival Barry Davies was selected for two FA Cup final commentaries, the 1994 World Cup final and the UEFA Euro 1996 semi-final between England and Germany. In 2008, Motson announced his retirement from live television commentary. He continued to cover games for Match of the Day highlights and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live as well as commentating on CBeebies' Footy Pups. In September 2017, he announced his full retirement from BBC commentary, having commentated on 10 FIFA World Cups, 10 UEFA European Championships and 29 FA Cup finals. In July 2018, he announced he was returning from retirement to work for Talksport.