The Sweeper

San Marino's goalkeeper crisis, upcoming matches, and unique records. New FIFA Series tournaments with diverse matchups. Football Manager addict managing Icelandic club. Debate on video game skills versus real-life coaching. Omija Ardija's struggle and potential Red Bull tie-up. Pros and cons of multi-club ownership in football.

Part 1 of this Sweeper podcast kicks off with an alternative look at the transfer window and Arturo Vidal’s dramatic helicopter & horseback unveiling at Colo Colo, before moving onto some of the best, worst & oddest transfer announcements in history. Continuing the transfer theme, we hear about a strange signing by Vilaverdense in Portugal's second tier and then go to Italy for the bizarre story of a young player who stole a team-mate’s car and got caught up in a high-speed police chase! We then finish off with some memorable soundbites and antics from players past & present – including, of course, Mario Balotelli.In Part 2, we're off to some British overseas territories. We first speak to Louis Jones of mystery football shirt company Surprise Shirts about his involvement with Anguillan outfit Uprising FC and hear about his recent trip to the Caribbean island, where he even made an appearance for the team. We then move on to Gibraltar and club team Hound Dogs’ unique status in UEFA's smallest member state, before taking a look at the English influences that have shaped the histories of clubs on the Rock.The final segment starts with an update on Mongolian footballer Ochiroo Batbold, who is cycling from his home in Ulaanbaatar to Old Trafford and has now reached Austria. We then talk about Schalke, a once great side in Germany now teetering dangerously on the brink of disaster in the second tier and get insight from German YouTuber Fiago on where things have gone wrong. There are details of a very special prize on offer to one lucky Sweeper patron, before we round off the episode with a typically eclectic selection of listener emails.RUNNING ORDER:Part 1: Unique transfer announcements, celebrity signings and high-speed car chases (00:44)Part 2: An amazing Anguillan adventure and Gibraltar's last remaining amateur club (16:43)Part 3: Ochiroo's odyssey, a German giant in decline and a cool Czech competition (33:44)Join us on Patreon at patreon.com/sweeperpod. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The opening segment of this Sweeper episode is all about our first trip of 2024 - to the Portuguese island of Madeira, where we took in the derby between local teams Marítimo and Nacional. We also delve a little bit deeper into the unique football culture on the island with the help of some supporters and try to answer the big question that has been on our minds since the end of last season in Portugal's Primeira Liga: why are there no island clubs in the top flight for the first time since 1984/85?Part 2 is all about the wonderful world of AFCON. First up, Cape Verde’s miraculous start to the tournament comes under the microscope and we speak to defender Roberto Lopes, who was recruited to play for the nation via LinkedIn. There are other unlikely recruits at AFCON for Tanzania, who have five non-league UK players whose stories we explore. We also chat about Tanzania’s mid-tournament coach sacking and the near-disaster that took place on the Gambia's flight to the host nation.Finally, in Part 3, the conversation turns to Ivan Perisic’s €1-a-month contract at his boyhood club Hajduk Split and other bizarre football contract clauses. We then look at the trials and tribulations of Charlie Pomroy, the British coach of Cambodian crisis club Angkor City FC who had a weekend to forget. The pod is then rounded off with a look at the world’s most southerly game of football between HMS Protector and research staff at Rothera in Antarctica.RUNNING ORDER:Part 1: The Funchal derby, the absence of island clubs from Portugal's top flight & Madeiran football culture (00:43)Part 2: Stories from AFCON: Cape Verde's LinkedIn recruit, Tanzanian turbulence & Gambia's near disaster (16:49)Part 3: Ivan Perisic's €1 wages, the Cambodian club in crisis and the world's southernmost football match (36:51) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first Sweeper episode of 2024 kicks off with some Azerbaijan anecdotes in Part 1. We discuss Adrian Mutu’s harsh sacking and some tasty treats from Turan Tovuz. From Mutu we switch to another ex-Premier League player in Pascal Chimbonda and his antics in charge of ninth-tier English side Skelmersdale. Finally, we talk about the Vatican City where registration is open for the league season in the world’s smallest country - but not just anyone can take part.In Part 2 we go remote and delve into the story of Nauru’s newly launched Football Association trying to bring the beautiful game to one of the last countries on Earth without a football team. Relative neighbours, Federated States of Micronesia are trying to fund a match in 2024 by selling football shirts and we explain how you can get hold of one and how some lucky Sweeper patrons can win one. We then stay remote as we look at Anders Hofman, the star of Project Iceman who completed an Ironman-style triathlon in Antarctica, and his next crazy quest to try and play for Denmark at the 2026 World Cup. Part 3 is all about cup competitions. We investigate the new Livonian League - a pre-season winter tournament for teams from Latvia and Estonia. Then we look at how underdogs have fared in the Copa del Rey, Coupe de France and FA Cup, plus we hear the greatest herring-related football story of all time.You can download the Momento app for free on iOS or Android via the link below and follow us @SweeperPod: ⁠acmomento.onelink.me/ckkf/SweeperPodRUNNING ORDER:Part 1: Cakes and coach sackings in Azerbaijan, the English club both top and bottom & the Vatican's player requirements (00:43)Part 2: Football's final frontier in Nauru and Micronesia & the Iceman of Antarctica targeting World Cup 2026 (18:28)Part 3: The Livonian League, Arandina's shirt request, herring-based goal bonuses in France & our trip to Madeira (36:21) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robinhood, Winner of a Caribbean double this year, discusses their recent success. Pontypridd United's unprecedented 141-point deduction and Ajax's historic elimination are also covered in the podcast. Winter weather topics include Greenland's New Year's Eve football match and FC Santa Claus, the Christmas-themed club. The hosts express gratitude to listeners and discuss future plans for the podcast.

Download Momento: acmomento.onelink.me/ckkf/SweeperPodOnce we found out that the draw for the Belgian Cup quarter-finals was conducted using a former footballer and an arcade claw machine, there was nowhere else we were going to start this episode. But domestic cup competitions across Europe have produced plenty of other notable stories over the past fortnight too, including another Bundesliga scalp for third-tier Saarbrücken in the DFB-Pokal, Copa del Rey elimination at the hands of fourth-division sides for Almería and Cadíz, and some unlikely Coupe de France victories for Caribbean clubs. And there’s also some love for our brand-new sponsor Momento to round off Part 1.Part 2 begins in Costa Rica, where the women’s team claimed an unlikely 19-0 victory over St. Kitts & Nevis to beat Haiti to qualification for the Gold Cup, before moving onto Monday night’s controversial incident in Türkiye, where a brutal assault on referee Halil Umut Meler by the Ankaragücü president Faruk Koca has led to all football in the country being suspended indefinitely. We then turn our attentions to Saudi Arabia, where an unfortunate defender gave away one of the weirdest penalties you will ever see when he tried to high-five his goalkeeper but ended up touching the ball instead.Finally, in Part 3, we discuss a team in Turkmenistan that won the league but probably shouldn’t have and a Brazilian club that probably should have won the championship but did not. That’s right: it’s the stories of Arkadag, the team newly founded by former dictator Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov that have won the title without dropping a point in their debut season, and Botafogo, who have completed one of the most spectacular bottle jobs in football history to throw away what would have been their first Serie A title since 1995. There’s also a mention for Pele, our Patreon and some of the stupidest Guinness world records in existence. RUNNING ORDER:Part 1: The Croky Cup arcade claw draw, Rod Stewart’s legendary Scottish Cup cameo and Caribbean success stories in the Coupe de France (00:48)Part 2: Goals galore for the Costa Rican women, a Turkish football meltdown in the Süper Lig and the weirdest penalty of all time in Saudi Arabia (17:18)Part 3: The brand-new club from a brand-new city, Turkmenistan’s bizarre world records and Botafogo’s spectacular bottle job (35:18)The Croky Cup arcade claw draw: www.youtube.com/live/KAbc8zn_BqI?si=gDtsalyNRrnpSkURJohn Oliver on Turkmenistan: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9QYu8LtH2E&t=1088s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With overseas territories from all over the world taking part, the Coupe de France is one of the world’s most intriguing domestic football competitions. But who funds it? How do they decide who plays home and away? And could an overseas side play in a UEFA competition if they won the tournament. In Part 1, co-hosts Lee Wingate and Paul Watson answer all the key questions about the French Cup and reflect on their recent journey to the sleepy rural town of Saint-Mesmin to watch sixth-tier Saint-Méziéry play host to Tahitian cup winners AS Pirae in the seventh round of the tournament.Next up in Part 2: the world’s most isolated clubs! There’s a mention for Rapa Nui FC of Easter Island, who hosted the mighty Colo Colo in a 2009 Chilean Cup clash, Khabarovsk, who travel around 100,000km per season to fulfil their away fixtures in the Russian second tier, and Perth Glory, who cut an isolated figure in the Australian A-League. That’s followed by the remarkable story of Papua New Guinea’s exit from the Pacific Games and a look back at some other harsh tournament eliminations, including the coin toss at EURO 1968 and the madness of the 1994 Caribbean Cup, where goals briefly counted double!In the third and final segment, it’s time for a round-up of the remaining stories. Erling Haaland paid for 200 fans of his first club, Bryne, to travel to Kristiansand for a play-off match, only for the Start groundsman to fail to turn on the undersoil heating and the game to be cancelled. There’s cucumber throwing and so much more besides at the Mascot Olympics in Spain, which was won by Valencia’s representative Amunt the Bat. And finally, two Tiktokers have bought and relocated Latvian second-division club Leevon Saldus with the aim of getting them promoted to the Virslīga. We hope you enjoy the show!*Correction: AS Pirae qualified for the 2023/24 Coupe de France by winning the Coupe de Polynésie.RUNNING ORDER:Part 1: The magic & madness of the Coupe de France and our trip to watch Saint Méziéry vs. AS Pirae of Tahiti in the seventh round (00:47)Part 2: The world's most isolated clubs and Papua New Guinea's incredibly harsh elimination from the Pacific Games (22:27)Part 3: The undersoil heating fiasco in Norway, the Mascot Olympics in Spain & the Latvian club bought by Tiktokers (44:12) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Nordic nations served up tension, drama and excitement in abundance at the weekend as several titles were decided by the narrowest of margins. The Swedish men’s and women’s titles came down to goal difference, as did a bonkers goal-laden battle for promotion in the Norwegian third tier. That got co-hosts Lee Wingate and Paul Watson racking their brains about the closest title races in history in Part 1, with England, Azerbaijan and Austria all getting a mention. As do Sexy Pants, who have unfortunately been relegated in Finland!There is a venture outside of Europe in Part 2 as Paul talks in-depth about the Te Runga Games, a quadrennial sports competition held in Kiribati – one of the most remote places in the world. There’s also a word for Afghanistan, whose new coach Ashley Westwood faces a full-scale rebellion before the World Cup qualifier against Qatar, and Eritrea, who have pulled out of the tournament entirely because the country’s authoritarian regime deems the players to be a flight risk. And finally there’s a listener email from Ian, who was treated like a royal on a football trip to Tajikistan.It is back to Europe in Part 3 as Lee pays a visit to Austrian club Blau-Weiss Linz, whose former player Raphael Dwamena sadly passed away after collapsing during a match in Albania on Saturday. That story is followed by the news of the penalty shootout that took place in North Ireland between Coleraine and Ballymena, and is the third-longest in football history. To finish off, we talk about our upcoming trip to Paris to watch Tahitian champions AS Pirae take on sixth-tier Saint Meziery in the Coupe de France at the weekend.RUNNING ORDER:Part 1: Frantic finales in the Nordic nations, the closest title races of all time & a roundup of the remaining Scandinavian football headlines (00:44)Part 2: The Te Runga Games in Kiribati, Eritrea’s withdrawal from World Cup qualification and Ashley Westwood’s mutiny in Afghanistan (17:48)Part 3: Completing the Austrian Bundesliga’s 12 stadia, the third-longest penalty shootout ever & a preview of our Coupe de France trip (35:36) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

KÍ Klaksvík have been the European football story of the season since they became the first club from the Faroe Islands to reach the group stages of a UEFA competition. But they didn’t stop there and have since followed up a draw at home to 2021 Ligue 1 winners Lille with a famous victory over Olimpija Ljubljana. Daniel Storey, the chief football writer at the i and a regular panelist on The Totally Football Show, was in the Faroes to witness the historic moment and joins us in Part 1 to tell us about his trip and reflect on the KÍ Klaksvík miracle.Part 2 kicks off with a chat about domestic cups across the continent: Balzers have an all-Vaduz cup run in Liechtenstein, Jeanfield Swifts record the biggest Scottish Cup win for a non-league team since 1896, Trencin are knocked out of the Slovak Cup by a fifth-division team and seventh-tier Deportivo Murcia are preparing for their Copa del Rey tie with La Liga side Alaves. The segment concludes with Lee telling Paul all about his trip to Czechia at the weekend to watch the team that recently lost 9-5 and re-living the awful birthday he spent at a concrete factory in Ostrava.The third and final segment of the podcast is dedicated to some stories beyond Europe’s borders: a Tongan team has completed a perfect season with two 62-year-olds in their ranks, a 27-year-old former bricklayer has led an Ecuadorian team from the third division to the top flight and two fans of Thai second-division side Suphanburi FC recently made the 850km journey to Krabi to watch their team play. Last but not least, we read out some e-mails from listeners who have tuned into the pod from multiple different countries around the world.RUNNING ORDER:Part 1 - The KÍ Klaksvík miracle & the rise of Faroese football with Daniel Storey (00:39)Part 2 - Quirks and cupsets, a trip to Czechia to see the team that lost 9-5 & a terrible birthday surprise (24:39)Part 3 - A perfect season in Tonga, two away fans in Thailand & a 27-year-old coach in Ecuador (42:04) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With another week packed full of international action in Europe, Asia and beyond, plus a selection of splendid club football stories and some superb listener emails, co-hosts Lee Wingate and Paul Watson once again had plenty of niche football talking points to dig their teeth into on the latest episode of the Sweeper Podcast. And that was before San Marino sent Football Twitter into meltdown by scoring their first competitive goal in more than two years against 18th-ranked Denmark, forcing the pod team to do an emergency 'The world's worst team just scored a goal!' segment to insert at the start of the show.The early Asian World Cup qualifying action is the starting point in Part 2. Paul tells us all about Guam, the first country to be eliminated from 2026 World Cup qualifying, Curtis Davies’ unlikely debut for Sierra Leone at the ripe old age of 38 and Otis Khan’s struggles to prove his Pakistani heritage to the powers-that-be. Lee then chips in with some headlines from the European continent, including the Polish squad getting stuck in the Faroe Islands, some bizarre records set by Georgia and Croatia, and Thailand’s improbable stop at McDonald's on their journey to Estonia.It's all about club football in Part 3 and there was only one place to start: Norway, where YMCA club and waffle impostors KFUM are on the cusp of an historic promotion to the Eliteserien, the country’s top flight. That’s followed by a chat about Deportivo Murcia, the first seventh-tier club to win a Copa del Rey tie in the competition’s 120-year history and also a contender for the unwanted prize of the worst badge in football. Plus, we read out some lovely listener emails sent from far-flung countries and territories across the globe, such as Hong Kong, Gibraltar and Myanmar.RUNNING ORDER:Part 1 - Emergency 'San Marino scored a goal' section (00:48)Part 2 - Full international round-up: First World Cup eliminations, Afghanistan's coaching chaos & Thailand's trip to McDonald's (10:14)Part 3 - Club stories & emails: The Norwegian YMCA fairytale, Deportivo Murcia's Copa del Rey magic & messages from far-flung lands (33:47) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.