Who is Kate Abdo? About Her, Relationship and Family

For a long time, only men were thought to be capable of partaking in sports and other relevant activities. Women were denied access to the field. Gradually, times changed and it was realized that women are equally worthy of exhibiting sportsmanship and were in no way less than their male counterparts. Women’s sports were born, but the initial step that helped introduced females to the world of games was their inclusion as broadcasters and commentators. Then, teams were formed and even later, women became part of expert panels exhibiting their knowledge and giving their opinions.

One such woman is Kate Abdo. The British and American broadcast personality is one of the few females leading the front of sports journalism. The 38-year-old has always had an appetite for the thrill and tactics of the game. Given that her childhood had been all about football, as you will read later, there is no doubt that she was about to grow up into a sports journalist.

She was born in Manchester to a family of soccer coaches and players. Before moving to Spain, she studied in Withington Girls’ School. Her teachers always admired her confidence and eloquence together with her zeal for games in a time when not many girls wanted to get involved in sports. Kate Abdo learned Spanish after moving to the country, where she attended her high school. There is no European country that Kate has been to without picking a part of their culture, especially their language.

Named Kate Giles at birth, she graduated from the prestigious University of Salford with a degree in European Languages. All of this gave her unmatched command over four different languages. She is fluent in Spanish, French, English and German.

Her anchoring skills and excellent sports critique landed her a high spot in a local German TV channel, DW. The fact that she was well-versed in both German and English, a feat not many German anchorpersons could accomplish garnered her massive popularity. Natives and immigrants would all be able to enjoy seamless commentary and opinions about football.

The world learned about Kate Abdo after her voice and talent flew her out of Europe to America. The show that paved the path for her American fame was the World Sports segment that she hosted for CNN in 2009. Her command on multiple languages, charming persona, and sports expertise transmuted her into an international face of football. She was specifically focused on covering the Bundesliga, the UCL, and other European matches. Abdo’s eloquence had won the hearts of many across the continent.

During her time working for CNN, she won the limelight by interviewing sports stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lawrence Dallaglio and many more. Kate also hosted the famous CNN show, “Inside Africa” that helped people learn about the continent from a different perspective.

After her rise to fame on American TV, she came back to Germany in 2011 and worked on an administrative post for Sky News HD, which helped her hone her managerial skills. Here, she would be in charge of the format of the program, the script and the content that would be put on-air besides her job as an expert sports journalist.

This event gave Kate the recognition she deserved. She was handed over with the responsibility to host, cover and comment on the 2015 Women’s World Cup for Fox. The coverage was a worldwide success and increased the viewership of the channel manifold. So lucrative was the partnership between Fox and Abdo that the channel offered her a permanent job. She was responsible for covering European football. With Fox, she even stepped into the boxing arena when she started hosting the “Inside PBC Boxing”.

The collaboration between Abdo and Fox expired the day the channel lost its rights to airing the Champion’s League. She then moved to TNT, the American media giant who had recently acquired the liberty to air European football.

Abdo was celebrated as one of the best sports journalists and anchorpersons when she hosted the Ballon d’Or for three consecutive times in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She has honored the heartthrobs of the world of football, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

She acted as FOX’s live commentator and host for the 2018 football world cup. Her opinions and hosting were applauded by football fans from all over the world, as was evident by her increasing Twitter following that would look up to her for the latest updates.

Kate Giles changed her name to Kate Abdo, after marrying her sweetheart Ramtin Abdo. Her husband has a renowned real estate business in Germany. The two dated for a couple of years before tying the knot sometime in 2010.

Kate has kept her family life away from the scrutiny of the media and is not very open about it. The pair has no children so far nor have they ever talked about their upcoming plans.

However, recent reports have suggested that Kate Abdo might have broken up with her German husband. The rumors were birthed after her intimate Instagram posts with TV personality, Barak Bess. The two have been spotted cozying with one another on many events. There has been no mention of her husband, whose last name she still carries, on any of her social media accounts. Many believe that the divorce has already taken place, but Kate has denied all of these reports.

Abdo has cited her parents and brother as her influence on diving into the world of sports. Her mother and father were football coaches and enthusiasts. Her household was divided based on the English club each member supported. Kate’s mom was a die-hard Liverpool fan whereas her father and elder brother supported Manchester United. She followed the latter by opting to fan-girl over Manchester United.

Game times were an unusual affair for the family since they not only watched the game but also understood its intricacies. The discussions over dinner were always about football that had taught Abdo a lot about the game. She would accompany her parents to their matches and would carefully observe each tactical move. Her brother was later to join several local football teams and she would be a spectator for all of them.

Besides football running in the family, her time in Europe meant that she was never too far away from football. Wherever she went, every country had its local teams. Her family had equipped her enough with the knowledge that she needed to be able to host football games, comment on them and publicize an opinion like no other in her field.

Kate Abdo has moved from Europe to live in America, after getting her residence permit. She posted about acquiring the green card. According to her, America is a better place to live in than England because of its pleasant weather, thanking Fox for helping her obtain citizenship.

She also became part of the comedy TV series, The Champions, by lending her voice.

Lately, she has been working with Fox, as a host and an expert commentator on the show PBC BOXING.

Fans appreciate her for her dressing sense, besides her sports commentary and hosting. She has an ever-growing Instagram fan base, with over 70k followers right now. Her Twitter has more than 155k admirers.

As of 2020, her net worth has been calculated to be a little over $1.5 million. She is said to charge no less than $25000 for each show that she hosts.

In a male-dominated field, Kate Abdo is a revolution. She has walked the sports ground tirelessly in stilettos without even wincing once and has made sure to deliver every detail unaltered to her viewers. Her monopoly over the sports broadcasting world is undeniable because she is perhaps the only female broadcaster who is fluent in four different languages at once, a trait that makes her unique. Overcoming the language barrier and being in able to converse in local dialect has helped build a strong foundation for American channels in Europe.

It would not be an exaggeration to state that Kate Abdo perfectly bridges the gulf between European and American TV by uniting them through her sports expertise.