'I swapped BBC job to work for ITV at World Cup after my career was ruined'

In a different world, Semra Hunter is a World Cup winner as a player. Instead, the Los Angeles-born star will have to settle on covering the World Cup as a journalist.

Hunter is part of the ITV team reporting on the tournament in North America, with Hunter lining up alongside broadcasting juggernauts Laura Woods and Mark Pougatch at the football extravaganza. She has gained experience in the football industry, working for CBS Sports Golazo in the States and is now appearing on British television for the tournament.

However, Hunter didn't train to be a broadcaster, instead, she had dreams of becoming one of the best footballers in the world. The LA native grew up playing the beautiful game and had started attracting attention with her performances.

In an interview with The Set Pieces, Hunter explained: "If I wasn't at school or studying, I played football. Then when I was 16, I suffered a bad injury and that was the end of that.

"I was unsure what to do after studying International Relations at University of California Berkeley and my mum said to me that I'd make a great reporter because I love sports and travelling."

She added: "She gave me the belief. I applied for a sports journalism and communication masters at the UEM in Madrid and got accepted. did the whole programme in Spanish and worked an internship off the back of that."

It was with Al-Jazeera that Hunter's first broadcast gig came, before she went on to land a job with La Liga giants Real Madrid. She's also done work for the BBC and Sky Sports in the past.

Hunter continued: "They had an opening and I spent two-and-a-half years doing a bit of everything from reporting in English and Spanish, to writing, editing and producing my own shows.

"Then I worked in Istanbul for two years, where I was a sports anchor and correspondent for Beyond the Game's daily sports news programme. I was sent all over the world to cover sports, including Euro 2016 in France.

"After a couple of years in Turkey, I returned to Spain for personal reasons and the stars aligned as La Liga TV had just opened up in 2018. Before I started there, I had a short spell hosting e-sports for Konami."

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