ITV sporting stalwart Jim Rosenthal is to become the new face of football on Channel Five.

The veteran presenter will preside over C5’s Sunset + Vine-produced Europa League coverage and his first game at the helm will be Liverpool’s clash with Steaua Bucharest at Anfield on Thursday.

The move ends Rosenthal’s 30-year career at rival ITV, where he has presented football, boxing and athletics.

He was the face of the commercial broadcaster’s Formula 1 coverage for nine years and has presented eight football World Cup competitions.

The anchor of ITV’s Bafta-winning coverage of the 2003 Rugby World Cup will replace Colin Murray, who left C5 for the Match of the Day 2 sofa at the end of last season.

C5’s outgoing head of sport Robert Charles said: “Throughout his career Jim has pretty much done and seen it all, his presence with bring great experience, authority and wit to football on Five.”

Rosenthal added: “I’ve covered many different sports throughout my career but football has always been my first love so it’s tremendous to be back covering the game at the highest level.”

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