José Mourinho to host own football show on Russian network RT

Mourinho said he "wanted a new challenge"

Manchester United's ex-manager José Mourinho is to host his own show on Russian TV channel RT, formerly known as Russia Today, the station says.

Mourinho, 56, will provide analysis of Champions League games in the fortnightly football programme.

"I'm going to talk about football on RT. What else did you think I was going to do?" he says in a promotional video.

Mourinho worked as a pundit for the Moscow-based RT network during the 2018 World Cup, which was held in Russia.

He was sacked by Manchester United in December after two years at the Old Trafford club, following a disappointing period in which United said it had identified a catalogue of failings.

• Can Mourinho reinvent himself?

• 'I've had job offers - but I don't park the bus'

• Video: 'I'm too young to retire'

"After the previous stage of my career was over, everyone wondered what I was going to do next," Mourinho says in the video advertisement posted on YouTube.

"I wanted a new challenge... I'm used to surprising people," he adds.

His new show on the Russian state-funded broadcaster is called On the Touchline with José Mourinho. It is due to begin on 7 March.

The RT news channel broadcasts its coverage in Arabic, English and Spanish.

In December, the UK's media watchdog Ofcom ruled that RT had broken impartiality rules in a number of its programmes relating to the nerve agent attacks that took place in Salisbury.

• Salisbury poisoning: What happened next?

RT said it was "extremely disappointed by Ofcom's conclusions".

Mourinho made his first media engagement since he was sacked last month, appearing as a pundit for the Qatar-based broadcaster Bein Sports.

What is RT?

The Kremlin-backed network is available in more than 100 countries.

RT, originally Russia Today, began broadcasting internationally in 2005 as a subsidiary of RIA Novosti, one of three Russian state-owned news broadcasters.

The broadcaster focused on Russia-related news reports and said its goal was to improve the image of the country in the US. At its launch, it promised a "more balanced picture" of Russia.

Several years later, it shortened its name to RT and began focusing on US news, positioning itself as an alternative to US mainstream media on both online and US cable television.

The channel's slogan is "Question More", and the network aims to provide its international audience with the Russian viewpoint on global events.

It offers 24-hour-news, broadcasting from Washington, London and Paris. RTDoc, broadcast in English and Russian, is aired from Moscow.