James Horncastle OMRI is an English sportswriter and broadcaster. Specialising in European[1] and Italian football, Horncastle frequently covers football for TNT Sports.[2]

Career

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Horncastle speaks fluent Italian[3] having formerly lived in Rome.[4] Horncastle started writing Serie B match reports for the Football Italia website[5] and is now a regular weekly pundit for BT Sport on their Champions League Goals Show and appeared weekly on their European Football Show for four years.[4][6][7][8]

As well as appearing weekly on British television, Horncastle writes in English and Italian for a number of newspapers and websites,[9] including The Guardian,[10] the Daily Mirror,[11] The Daily Telegraph,[12] The Times,[13] The Independent,[14] The Blizzard,[15] Eurosport[16] and the Liverpool Echo[17]

He was reported by Forbes to be the first to break the $828m deal for AC Milan by Chinese investors from Silvio Berlusconi.[18]

He is used weekly as a European expert for BBC Radio 5 Live’s Euro leagues show with Mina Rzouki, Julien Laurens, and Raphael Honigstein.[19][20] He also produces columns for BBC Sport.[21] He has contributed to The Athletic,[22] Talksport,[23] The Anfield Wrap,[24] ESPN,[25] the A.S. Roma website,[26] Off The Ball[27] and FourFourTwo.[28] He is now a regular on ‘Golazzo’ for The Totally Football Show with James Richardson and Gabriele Marcotti[29] and has appeared as a guest at Totally Football live shows in England [30] and Ireland.[31] He has appeared on the panel at Gazzetta Football Italia live shows with James Richardson.[32][33] Horncastle contributes weekly to The Football Ramble's ‘On The Continent’ podcast,[34] and was a regular on the Football Weekly podcast and live shows.[35][36]

Horncastle is also in the process of writing and publishing a book about former Italian football player Roberto Baggio, titled 'It Isn’t Sunday Anymore: In Search of Roberto Baggio'. It is expected to be published on 31 July 2025.[37][22]

Personal life

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Horncastle is a Leeds United fan.[38]

References

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  1. ^ Walsh, Kristian (29 May 2018). "Fabinho likened to Premier League title winner as Liverpool hailed for 'very good' Emre Can replacement". Liverpool Echo..
  2. ^ Cooney, Gavin (28 May 2018). "'If I was Bale, I wouldn't want to be a Real Madrid player next season' - Lennon". BBC.
  3. ^ Storey, Daniel (24 December 2015). "Footy on TV: James Horncastle - Football365".
  4. ^ a b "James Horncastle". btsport.
  5. ^ "Horncastle Exclusive: 'Calcio is passion' - Football Italia". www.football-italia.net.
  6. ^ "Elephant Sport » BT Sport's European coverage is a welcome change". elephantsport.myblog.arts.ac.uk.
  7. ^ Cooney, Gavin (June 2017). "BT Cancel European Football Show With One Final Indignity".
  8. ^ "European Football Show Extra Series and Episode Guides - TV from RadioTimes". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  9. ^ "Rivista Undici". Rivista Undici.
  10. ^ "James Horncastle". The Guardian.
  11. ^ "James Horncastle - Mirror Online". www.mirror.co.uk.
  12. ^ "'Italian Mourinho' Antonio Conte will be shock for Chelsea players after gentle Guus". The Telegraph. 4 April 2016 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  13. ^ Horncastle, James (6 March 2018). "Why Juventus want to make Paulo Dybala their new Alessandro Del Piero" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  14. ^ "James Horncastle". Independent.co.uk.
  15. ^ Storey, Daykin. "James Horncastle - theBlizzard.co.uk". www.theblizzard.co.uk.
  16. ^ "How Catania keep punching beyond their weight". 26 February 2013.
  17. ^ Walsh, Kristian (22 August 2014). "Serie A specialist James Horncastle on Balotelli's move to LFC".
  18. ^ Ozanian, Mike. "AC Milan Sold For $828 Million To Yonghong Li". Forbes.
  19. ^ "Euro Leagues Football Show - Downloads - BBC Radio 5 live". BBC.
  20. ^ "Euro Leagues Football Show - Episode guide - BBC Radio 5 live". BBC.
  21. ^ "Conte needs to stop complaining about money - Horncastle, In Short - BBC Radio 5 live". BBC. 19 February 2018.
  22. ^ a b "James Horncastle". The Athletic. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  23. ^ "James Horncastle".
  24. ^ "Mohamed Salah Signing Reaction: James Horncastle On Liverpool's New £34million Man - The Anfield Wrap". 22 June 2017.
  25. ^ "Transfer needs for Italy's title contenders". 3 January 2018.
  26. ^ "Expert View: ESPN pundit James Horncastle on the Roma-Shakhtar tie". www.asroma.com.
  27. ^ ""Juventus hate coming to London" - James Horncastle". Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  28. ^ "James Horncastle". FourFourTwo. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  29. ^ "Golazzo: The Totally Italian Football Show - Totally Football Show". www.thetotallyfootballshow.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
  30. ^ "James Horncastle - Glee".
  31. ^ Eastman, Hazlitt. "Totally Football - Off The Kerb Productions". offthekerb.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  32. ^ "James Richardson on Football Italia: 'There was a romance to it'". 16 June 2017.
  33. ^ "LIVE in London: 25 Year Anniversary of Gazzetta Football Italia - Forza Italian Football". www.forzaitalianfootball.com. 11 June 2017.
  34. ^ "On The Continent podcast". radiostakhanov.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-28.
  35. ^ O'Callaghan, Eoin (5 November 2014). "19 reasons you know you're a hardcore Football Weekly listener".
  36. ^ Fennessy, Paul (22 March 2014). "TheScore.ie chats to Football Weekly about Twitter trolls and why United would have been better off with Mourinho".
  37. ^ Horncastle, James (2025-07-31). It Isn't Sunday Anymore: In Search of Roberto Baggio. Mudlark. ISBN 978-0-00-846694-7.
  38. ^ "Football Weekly Live". The Guardian. 3 December 2014.