Before 1958 Brazil had never won a World Cup. Within 12 years, Pele would lead the Seleção to three titles, cementing themselves as the most popular team in the world. This is the backdrop for Netflix's newly released documentary about football superstar, Pelé. In today's episode, we analyze Pelé's impact on the Brazilian national team and how he was used for political purposes.   Guest: David Gass is a freelance broadcaster who is a regular contributor to Extra Time Radio and A Football Podc

On July 11th Norwich City lost 4-0 to West Ham confirming the Canaries' relegation from the Premier League. Despite the loss, Norwich's head coach Daniel Farke spoke of the club's bright future. Fast forward to today and Norwich sit atop the Championship table and are poised to return to the Premier League.  Today we take a look at Norwich City and ask, what’s the purpose of a football club? Guest: Murad Ahmed is the sports editor of the Financial Times

It’s been a tough year for the football industry… Of course, it’s one thing to lose money through a lack of gate receipts. It’s another thing to lose money through lack of television revenue… But that is precisely what is happening around Europe. We’ve seen broadcast rights deals drop in Germany and in France, and it’s now Italy’s turn to face the music. In this episode, we ask: what’s going on with Serie A’s broadcast rights deal? Guest: David Hellier (@hellierd) covers football finance...

So far European giants like Juventus, Liverpool, PSG and Real Madrid have all struggled in their domestic leagues.  But no club has disappointed their fans more this season than Borussia Dortmund. Following a draw against Hoffenheim the club is 6 points back of fourth-place.  Today we detail Dortmunds disappointing season and break down who will qualify for the final Champions League positions in Germany. Guest: Chris Williams is a Bundesliga journalist and DFL world feed co-commentator

Daniel Levy has transformed Tottenham on and off the pitch. Yet now Spurs are struggling. The club sit in 8th place and have lost three of their last four games. But beyond the results on the pitch, could there be more structurally wrong with Daniel Levy and the club?  Guest: David Gass (@empiregass) is a freelance broadcaster who is a regular contributor to Extra Time Radio and A Football Podcast. He also regularly commentates on MLS, college soccer, and elsewhere.

Atletico Madrid and Luis Suarez are on the hottest team and player in Spain. Atletico has won their last 7 games and Suarez has scored 9 goals in his last 8 games. Los Colchoneros now lead the league by 7 points and have games in hand.  Today we ask: how are Suarez and Atletico dominating La Liga? Guest: Andy West is a sports writer and commentator. He regularly contributes to LaLigaTV, BBCSport, Sport360, and the EuroLeague. He is also the author of 'Lionel Messi and the Art of Living’.

It’s April 2014… A 15-year-old is waiting nervously beside a football pitch in the Norwegian city of Drammen… That day, aged 15 years and 118 days, Martin Ødegaard became the youngest footballer ever to play in Norway’s Tippeligaen. It’s January 2021… A 22-year-old is waiting nervously beside a football pitch in the English city of London… 7 years have past and Martin Ødegaard has failed to live up to the early promise he offered. Moving to Real Madrid and being loaned to clubs around...

It was just six years ago that Barcelona was the envy of world football. But now, they’re in the midst of a financial crisis. Last week Spanish newspaper El Mundo revealed that the club had more than €1 billion in debts. Today we ask, how dire are Barcelona finances and what do they mean for the future of the club? Guest: Colin Millar is an editor of Football Espana and author of The Frying Pan of Spain: Sevilla v Real Betis - Spain's Hottest Football Rivalry

It's been a long time since Sporting Lisbon won the Portuguese league. So long in fact the last time they won it in 2002, Ronaldo was is their youth team, 'Lady Marmalade' was the #1 song worldwide and Star Wars Episode 2 was in theaters. But that might about to change in. Sporting is first in the league and is 10 points ahead of their rivals. Today we ask, can Sporting end their title drought? Guest: Tom Kundert is the creator of Portugoal.net and is World Soccer Magazine's Portugal...

Last week The Times revealed new information regarding the formation of a potential European Super League. But before it was released, FIFA, UEFA, and the 5 other regional federations united in the opposition to such a league.  Today we examine the latest proposal and ask, what does it mean for football? Guest: David Gass is a freelance broadcaster who is a regular contributor to the Extra Time Radio podcast and A Football Podcast. He also regularly commentates on MLS and college soccer.

Liverpool are widely considered league leaders in their use of data science. However, their reign at the top may be short-lived. It appears Manchester City is building a data science department to rival Liverpool's.  Today we ask: can Manchester City overtake Liverpool in English football's data race? Guest: Paul Nelson is the Director of Performance at SkillCorner Simon Austin is the founder of Training Ground Guru

Earlier this month, all eyes were on the Bundesliga as fallen giants Schalke narrowly avoided matching the longest winless streak in league history… But at the same time, there was another streak at stake that seemed to have gone below the radar… Beating Koln 5-0, Christian Streich’s Freiburg had put up their longest winning run in Bundesliga history, putting the club well above the relegation spots and all but confirming another season in the German top division. In this episode, we ask:...

In recent years, goals have been increasing England, Germany, and Italy. But in Spain, goals per game are decreasing dramatically. In fact, La Liga is averaging 2.41 goals per game which is the lowest of any big-5 European league since 2014/15.  Today we ask: why is La Liga the lowest scoring league in Europe’s big-5 leagues? Guest: Euan McTear is a Madrid based football journalist. He is also the author of Eibar the Brave.

On January 17th, 2020 Schalke beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-0. It would take them another 356 days to get their next win in the Bundesliga, which they did by beating Hoffenheim 4-0. Had Schalke lost or drawn the game they would’ve tied a 55-year-old Bundesliga record held by Tasmania Berlin for the most consecutive winless games. Today we ask, how did one of Germany’s biggest teams become historically bad? Guest:  Jack Mangan is a Co-Host of SchalkeMerica.

Since he transferred from Everton to Manchester City for £47.5 million in 2016, John Stones has never been universally praised. Often pundits have remarked on his inconsistency. That's starting to change. In his last 6 Premier League games, City have kept 5 clean sheets, ascending to 5th in the table.  Today we ask, what’s changed for John Stones? Guest: David Mooney is the host of the Blue Moon podcast and the ‘Why Always Us’ Podcast. He also contributes to BBC Radio 5 Live. 

In the present day, the idea of buying a football has become run-of-the-mill… Over the last few years, we’ve seen American actors buying clubs, Russian oligarchs buying clubs, Chinese businessmen buying clubs, and Middle Eastern states buying clubs… There may not be pots of gold to be made owning a football club, we are frequently told, but there is power to be wielded and kudos to be apportioned. Owning a football club can open doors to the highest echelons of modern society. So why would...

Five months ago PSG almost won the Champions League... however, due to some poor finishing, PSG & Thomas Tuchel went home empty-handed. Despite taking the Parisiens further in Europe than they’d ever been before Tuchel is now out of a job. To replace him, PSG hired Mauricio Pochettino.  Today we ask: why did PSG fire Tuchel & what does Pochettino’s hiring mean for the club. Guest: Tom Williams is a football writer & broadcaster who contributes to The Times, Canal+ & The...

From the outside this year looked like it was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Bayer Leverkusen. After losing star-player Kai Havertz and narrowly missing out on the Champions League, Leverkusen could have easily taken a step back.  Instead, they’re flying high. Leverkusen sit in 2nd place just 2 points behind Bayern. Today we ask, why are Bayer Leverkusen even better than they were last season?  Guest: Chris Williams is a Bundesliga journalist and DFL world feed co-commentator

Back in 1956, Gabriel Hanot - the chief football writer for the magazine France Football - asked colleagues from across Europe to vote for their player of the year.  By the time the numbers had been counted up, Blackpool’s Stanley Matthews had narrowly beaten Real Madrid’s Alfredo Di Stefano by three votes. Fast forward 70 years and that award, the Ballon d’Or, is still celebrated year on year, voted for by journalists from around the world. But with the Coronavirus pandemic raging on, the...

Last season, half the Premier League had betting sponsors on the front of their shirts. Last week, the UK government's Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport began collecting evidence for its review on gambling laws.  Today we ask, what’s is football's relationship with gambling and what reform is necessary? Guest: Rob Davies is a Business Reporter for the Guardian.   Dr. Steve Sharman is a Research Fellow for the National Addiction Centre and King's College London.

This year, the sheer scale of football’s dementia problem has slowly reared its head, with lots of ex-players either passing away with dementia or revealing they’d been diagnosed with it. Former Premier League winner Chris Sutton is now campaigning to get the FA and the PFA, to put more effort into addressing dementia in football. Today we ask: what more can UK authorities do to tackle dementia in football? Guest: Chris Sutton is a football pundit who appears on BT Sport and BBC Radio 5 Live

It seems it’s almost impossible to watch and discuss a game without talking about the injury status of both teams. Players are dropping like flies. While injury statistics are hard to track according to the website PremierInjuries.com, injuries in the Premier League are up by more than 20% compared to last season. Today we ask, why are injuries on the rise and how are clubs coping with them? Guest: Dave Carolan (@davecarolan) is a Performance Coach for Millwall FC.

When Gianni Infantino ran for FIFA President in 2016, he ran on an anti-corruption ticket. Looking to succeed Sepp Blatter, this approach was hardly surprising. The problem is… the claims of corruption just haven’t gone away. The most recent FIFA representative under scrutiny is the President of the Confederation of African Football, Ahmad Ahmad, who, earlier this month, was suspended for 5 years by FIFA. In this episode, we ask: Why has Ahmad Ahmad been suspended by FIFA? And why doesn’t...

Sometimes in football you get a moment or a story that seems like it was taken out of a Hollywood script. With Ryan Reynolds' and Rob McElhenny's recent takeover of Wrexham, the roles are being reversed. Now, Hollywood is ready to call the shots in football. Today we ask, why are Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElneny really buying Wrexham? Guest: Will Magee (@W_F_Magee) is a freelance journalist who has worked for Vice, the Mirror, and the i newspaper.

Ligue 1, France’s top footballing division, is widely considered to be the worst of the top five leagues in Europe. The league’s management, though, have been working hard to change this. One avenue open to leagues looking to improve their profile is increasing their broadcast revenue. In 2018, Ligue 1 did this by moving from Canal+ to Mediapro as the leading rights holder for the league. In October, though, Mediapro failed to produce a scheduled 172 million Euro payment to the league,...