The Sweeper - A World Football Podcast TOB Sports Media

Part 1 kicks off with some stories from around the football
world. Why were the Solomon Islands locked out of their dressing room at the OFC Nations Cup? How come New Caledonia dramatically pulled out of the tournament? What are the most remote football tournaments in the world in terms of the distance to the closest inhabited land? And which footballer has recently established himself on the over-45s tennis circuit in South America?

 

We’re back to Europe for Part 2. Which Spanish fallen giant recently gained a dramatic promotion and celebrated with their supporters at the terminal building of the local airport? We’re joined by Matt Harrison of the Guiricast Podcast to find out more. What are the standout ties of the Champions League first qualifying round? And how did Bodø/Glimt manage to send scouts to check out the wrong Latvian opponent?

 
Join us for the patron-only Part 3 at patreon.com/SweeperPod as we take our listeners behind the scenes for the first time and explain how we make the podcast. Where do we find our stories? What is the process for deciding which ones make the cut and deserve inclusion in the episode? How do we keep tabs on everything that is happening around the world? And what happens when we have a “bad pod day”?



RUNNING ORDER

00:00 - Intro

00:42 - Chaos at the OFC Nations Cup

09:46 - Rescue missions on Saint Helena

16:47 - Diego Forlán's tennis transition

22:29 - Malaga's promotion madness

28:40 - European fallen giants

31:46 - The UCL first qualifying round

34:57 - Bodø/Glimt scout wrong Latvian opponent

The European Championships are in full swing not only on the pitch but off it too. In Part 1, we pick out three themes from the opening stages of the tournament in Germany that have made us laugh: food wars, culture craziness & online polls/searches. Tune in to find out which country at EURO 2024 has the best national dish, who is empirically speaking the sexiest of the 24 head coaches, why Niklas Füllkrug has the best ‘Personal life’ section on Wikipedia and why Ralf Rangnick has taken the Austria squad to a Rod Stewart concert in Berlin.

 

The focus is on club football in Part 2, with three amazing
stories from Portugal, Japan and Iceland. Why could a Santa Clara player’s tattoo to commemorate winning the Portuguese second division prove to be premature? How has a university team managed to pull off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Emperor’s Cup in Japan? And will lower-league Icelandic club FC Reynir, who are based at the foot of a volcano, get the home cup tie they have been dreaming of for 30 years?

 

For Part 3 and some international football headlines from three other continents, join us over on Patreon at patreon.com/SweeperPod. Why is 16-year-old Bolivian wonderkid Moisés Paniagua unable to travel to the Copa America in the United States? What emotional moment of unity took place at the world’s newest international football derby between Sudan and South Sudan? And why has Singapore’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Hassan Sunny had to beg Chinese football fans to stop sending him money?

 

RUNNING ORDER:



00:00 – Intro

00:40 – EURO 2024 – Christmas for adults

03:40 – EURO 2024 culture craziness

07:02 – EURO 2024 food wars

11:15 – EURO 2024 online polls & searches

15:57 – Guest podcast appearances

17:52 – A tattoo mishap in Portugal

22:01 – A university upset in Japan

27:29 – An Icelandic village dream

34:53 – Listener emails

 

Podcast guest appearances:

Lee on The Totally Show: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6npASOQ1BZPvYYFpnb4ssE

Paul on Guardian Football Weekly: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2uu1QCQC1vH2ISK8euq8kj

Lee on The Window: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4tPj0TvQ5NQfN6CcQPDOCA

Paul on World of CONCACAF: https://open.spotify.com/episode/24hiIr0iqUW7MSEKGnY5ol

EURO 2024 is just around the corner and we have put the tournament under the spotlight in typically Sweeper style in Part 1. How did Austria’s Maximilian Entrup go from a third-tier amateur/PE teacher to a place at EURO 2024 in the space of a year? Does Georgia’s Budu Zivzivadze harbour any regrets about choosing football over chess? Who is the only player at the tournament currently on the books of a third-tier European club? And where does Latvia’s 0-0 draw with Germany in 2004 rank among the all-time biggest EURO shocks?



Part 2 is dedicated to the rest of the international football news. Was San Marino’s recent friendly against Slovakia at a stadium with a water slide behind the main stand in Austria's ugliest town our most random live game to date? Why have FIFA ruled that AFCON top scorer Emilio Nsue has actually been ineligible to play for Equatorial Guinea over the past 11 years? And why did everyone think that Syria had beaten North Korea 1-0 when it was actually the other way around?



You can join us for Part 3 over on Patreon at patreon.com/SweeperPod as we reflect on some international news from the Caribbean and a selection of other stories. What did the Cayman Islands players fear they might lose ahead of their recent World Cup qualifying trip to Cuba? Why did Bonaire contest a recent friendly against a ninth-tier team from the Netherlands? And why has Spanish goalkeeper Miguel Guerreiro given up on his Only Fans dream and made a return to football with Velez in the fourth tier?



RUNNING ORDER

00:00 – Intro

01:05 – EURO 2024 alternative career paths

09:28 – EURO 2024 players outside the top tier

14:17 – EURO 2024 underdogs & outsiders

21:20 – Mystery shirt guessing game

24:36 – San Marino’s water slide away day

33:46 – Emilio Nsue’s Equatoguinean ineligibility

39:02 – North Korea’s secret Syria score

Greenland tops the agenda in Part 1 following the news of their CONCACAF application and their friendly against Turkmenistan – the Arctic island's first game against a senior men’s national team since 2013. But what are their odds of making it into the governing body of North and Central America & the Caribbean? Where will they play their home games? And how did they engineer a friendly against the national team of one of the world’s most repressive countries?

In Part 2, we look at some more headlines from across the football world. Why are the Afghanistan women’s national team in exile in Australia and how are Melbourne Victory supporting them? How did inspirational amputee footballer Marcin Oleksy turn personal tragedy into incredible success? Why has a Hungarian U14 regional league made headlines across the football world? And could an Italian footballer’s touchline fight with a ball boy end his career?

Join us for Part 3 at patreon.com/SweeperPod as we discuss further international and club football stories. What can we expect from the CONIFA Women’s World Cup in Bodø, Norway? Why was Cameroon FA president Samuel Eto’o forced to reinstate coach Marc Brys? What non-footballing factor led to Columbus Crew’s downfall in the CONCACAF Champions Cup final? And how will new
Fenerbahçe boss José Mourinho fare in Türkiye?

RUNNING ORDER
00:00 – Intro
00:57 – Greenland’s CONCACAF application
10:56 – The friendly vs. Turkmenistan
17:53 – Random friendlies involving CONCACAF nations
21:19 – The Afghanistan women’s team in exile
26:48 – Crutch fight at the AFCON for Amputees
30:42 – A 41-goal swing in an U14 league
34:02 – A suspicious fight with a ball boy
VIDEO: The crutch fight at the AFCON for Amputees: x.com/AfricaFutbolera/status/1795194203619647904
VIDEO: Marcin Oleksy’s Puskas Award-winning
goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNJhcsMfWeg&ab_channel=FIFA

Part 1 contains an international round-up of European minnows inside and outside of UEFA. In which version of football has Gibraltar become a European champion? Why has Corsica recently hosted their counterparts from Sardinia, Sicily & St. Martin? Will we watch San Marino vs. Slovakia from the top of a water slide? And which football stadium straddles an EU/non-EU border?

Up next in Part 2 are a series of records and achievements from across the football world. What remarkable feat did Attack Energy Herat accomplish en route to winning the Afghan Super League? Why did a goalkeeper recently take three penalties in Israel? And is Turkmenistan's dictator partly responsible for the longest winning run in football history?

Join us for Part 3 on Patreon at patreon.com/SweeperPod as we look at Pas de la Casa's run to the Andorran Cup final without winning a game, hear about the world's ugliest building in the Kosovan capital Pristina, play a UEFA Conference League-themed game of 'Pointless' and discuss the collapse of a goal frame in the USA.

RUNNING ORDER:
00:00 - Intro
01:10 - Gibraltar's walking football triumph
06:20 - The return of the Corsica Cup
15:03 - San Marino vs. Slovakia & quirky football grounds
21:54 - Attack Energy Herat's perfect Afghan season
24:56 - A 22nd consecutive Bosnian title for SFK 2000
26:54 - The longest penalty shootout ever in Israel
29:06 - Ascent Soccer U21s' remarkable feat in Malawi
32:36 - 47 straight wins for Arkadag in Turkmenistan

VIDEO: The annual All-Priests Over 75s Five-a-Side Football Challenge Match from Father Ted: https://bit.ly/FatherTedVideo

VIDEO: The longest penalty shootout in football history in Israel: https://bit.ly/IsraelPenaltyShootoutVideo

Part 1 brings you a full round-up of all the news from the Benelux countries. What controversial actions recently earned a Dutch referee a lifelong ban from football? Why are two storied Belgian clubs facing an existential threat? And what strange series of events could lead to European football being played on a Luxembourgish campsite this summer?

Next up in Part 2 is a round-up of all the action from the rest of Europe. How have Sturm Graz finally managed to dethrone Red Bull Salzburg and does it mark a turning point for Austrian football? How did a marriage proposal mentally unsettle a goalkeeper in the Albanian Cup final? And why have Finnish club SJK Seinäjoki started giving away free sausages to fans?

Join us on Patreon at patreon.com/SweeperPod
for Part 3 to find out how Baltika have managed to reach the Russian Cup final despite already being eliminated, why Poland wins our award for the most unpredictable country in Europe in the 2023/24 season and how a raccoon managed to evade capture for 161 seconds in a recent MLS fixture.

RUNNING ORDER:

00:00 - Intro

00:58 - The Dutch referee who celebrated

10:00 - The two Belgian clubs on the brink

15:08 - Surprises and campsites in Luxembourg

20:40 - Party time for Sturm Graz in Austria

33:11 - Egnatia's Albanian double bid & a proposal

38:02 - Free sausages at SJK Seinäjoki in Finland