219 episodes

What if Football, the home of the alternate history of football, the home of the sliding doors moments in football.

Find us on the Sport Social website:
https://podcast.sport-social.co.uk/podcast/what-if-football/

What if Football Sport Social Podcast Network

    • Sport

What if Football, the home of the alternate history of football, the home of the sliding doors moments in football.

Find us on the Sport Social website:
https://podcast.sport-social.co.uk/podcast/what-if-football/

    The Underrated Euros: 1988

    The Underrated Euros: 1988

    Seemingly, the only way was down for UEFA, after they had staged the immaculate and perhaps greatest ever European Championships four years prior in 1988.

    This was a gloomy time for the European game, that lived in the day-to-day strife of hooliganism and still existed under the cloud of the Heysel disaster. Remaining within the confines of eight teams, there was probably the fear that having 25% of the tournament's field polluted with teams from the British Isles might soil the good name the competition had developed.

    Could EURO ’88 live up to the hype?

    00:00 – Introduction
    00:45 – Road to West Germany
    09:20 – Group A
    15:30 – Group B
    21:55 – Knockout Stage
    31:10 – In Conclusion
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    • 35 min
    The Rebirth of the Euros: 1984

    The Rebirth of the Euros: 1984

    The Euros was on its deathbed.

    It seems hard to believe now, what with the incessant wall-to-wall coverage, build-up, hype and money that goes into the Euros these days. However, UEFA had just suffered humiliation in staging a cagey, defensive Jose Mourinho wet dream of a tournament in Italy. They desperately needed to re-shape the image of the Euros, or risk its premature death.

    This is the story of EURO 1984.

    00:00 – Introduction
    00:40 – Road to France
    09:45 – A
    14:25 – B
    21:50 – Knockouts
    30:35 – Conclusion
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    • 34 min
    The Nearly Murdered Euros: 1980

    The Nearly Murdered Euros: 1980

    UEFA had their tails up. They'd overseen quite possibly one of the greatest football tournaments ever bequeathed to the sport and now they believed they could make the competition even better by expanding the field.

    It made sense: there were more than four elite countries in European football, and a more inclusive game surely made for a better one. Or so UEFA thought. What they actually did was nearly kill the competition before it ever truly got going.

    00:00 – Introduction
    00:35 – Road to Italia
    09:30 – A
    12:50 – B
    17:50 – Knockouts
    20:45 – In Conclusion
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    • 25 min
    The Forgotten Euros: 1960-1976

    The Forgotten Euros: 1960-1976

    The European Championship is a monster of a competition. Second only to the World Cup and Champions League, every four years 24 nations come together to decide who will become the best in Europe. Billions watch, millions cram into the stadia. But it wasn't always this way.

    In today's film we remember the forgotten Euros, when it was a two-bit operation featuring four teams across a long weekend. This is the humble beginnings of the European Championships.

    00:00 - Introduction
    00:30 - Formation
    02:40 - EURO 1960
    07:35 - EURO 1964
    12:40 - EURO 1968
    17:45 - EURO 1972
    22:40 - EURO 1976
    33:00 - Conclusion
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    • 36 min
    The 'What if?' compilation tape of Euros hosts that never were

    The 'What if?' compilation tape of Euros hosts that never were

    This summer, the Euros will of course be held in Germany after that batshit idea 3 years ago to still stage it continent-wide in the midst of a pandemic.

    The hosting rights are supposed to matter greatly over what happens at an international football tournament. But does it really? We have changed the hosts for every European Championship since 1980 to get down to the truth.

    00:00 – Introduction
    00:25 – 1980
    03:15 – 1984
    05:45 – 1988
    08:30 – 1992
    11:15 – 1996
    13:40 – 2000
    16:05 – 2004
    21:20 – 2008
    32:50 – 2012
    42:40 – 2016
    47:30 – 2020
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    • 54 min
    The Alternate History of International Football

    The Alternate History of International Football

    This is a compilation tape of alternate scenarios previously uploaded onto our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYmeDpDJnYPN2AEdBIy3Kw
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    • 2 hrs 16 min

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