A short conversation with Being Sven earlier this week reminded me that I've been meaning to post about soccer podcasts for a while now. Even though it's almost the end of the season, there's no time like the present. I listen to three sports podcasts on a regular basis -- I used to listen to World Soccer Daily, but it was just too much. I'm sure there's more out there that I should be listening to, and I'll have an hour drive time to my summer job, so if there's something that I have to start downloading, let me know in comments.
- Football Weekly, from the Guardian (and the team who brings you the Fiver). This started out as the World Cup Daily podcast and then evolved into its current format. There's a rotating cast of commentators anchored by James Richardson, and honestly, this is the only one of these podcasts I want to go on longer. It focuses mostly on England, with James Richardson covering Italy and Sid Lowe (the best thing about this podcast) covering Spain. (And occasional dips into France, Germany, and South America.) If you like the Fiver, which everyone should, then this is basically the Fiver in audio format. This is my favorite of the podcasts. Highly recommended, and I'm sad they're going off the air for summer break.
- ESPN Soccernet Extra. This one's more straight news than Football Weekly, and three times a week. It's also Premiership-focused, but a bit more wide-ranging in its coverage of other leagues; they've covered the Dutch and Australian leagues, and even MLS. I didn't love this one at first, but now the commentators are showing a bit more personality and getting used to the format, it seems. Quality stuff, and hopefully they'll continue to improve.
- BBC Sportsweek. This one is the most hit-or-miss; since it's all sports, sometimes that means five minutes of soccer and forty-five of cricket or swimming or something else. However, the strength of this podcast is that they can get the big names to come on, and they don't hold back in interviewing them. It's pretty awesome to hear (for example) the new owner of West Ham called out. If this were entirely a soccer podcast, it would be incredible.
So, what else should I be listening to?
5 comments:
The Beautiful Game - 2-4 (depending on who's around that week) guys in London who are very knowledgeable and quite funny.
I'd love for the GU podcast to become the Sid Lowe show for the extra month that Spain plays! Sid is the best!!
I agree with you about the Football Weekly Podcast from The Guardian. However, my personal favorite is The Game Podcast from The Times featuring Danny Kelly, Gabriele Marcotti and a cast of others.
I, too, love BBC Sportsweek (when it concentrates on football). It was part of the inspiration for my podcsat, EPL Talk, which features an interview with a different guest each week on the topic of football. It can be found here.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
I recommend the New York Supporter's Club own Liverpool podcast... MP Red. It's available through iTunes (obviously free)or you can check it out through their site.
It's entertaining enough with thoughtful discussion... my only knock on it is it tends to be a bit dated, but they seem to be getting better about their turn-around time.
Oh, and the club has released an official podcast ahead of the CL Final...
Find it here on the official website
Scott: listened to it on the way home from work. ;) Thanks for the tip, though!
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