The Sweeper

Located at the intersection of Europe and North America, Greenland boasts the unique selling point of having the shortest season in world football - at one week long. The first part of the latest episode of 'The Sweeper' sees presenter Lee Wingate talk all about the 2023 Greenlandic Football Championship with co-host Paul Watson, who reflects on his own journey to Nuuk seven summers ago.Part 2 kicks off with a shout-out for KÍ Klaksvík & Zrinjski Mostar, the first-ever clubs from the Faroe Islands and Bosnia & Herzegovina to reach a European group phase. We talk about the KÍ player selling frozen pizzas, the prize money that comes with qualification and also speak about Raków's insane rise from the Polish third division to the brink of the Champions League in the space of a few years.Finally, in Part 3, it's time for some silly refereeing stories, starting in Latvia with the drunk refs whose dodgy decisions saw them breathalysed by police and finishing with the Fred Perry polo shirt-wearing fan who stepped in to run the line in Portsmouth's match against Cheltenham. There's also a look at the revolt against Samuel Eto'o in Cameroon & a plug for our brilliant bonus episodes.RUNNING ORDER:Part 1: The 2023 Greenlandic Football Championship & our own visit to watch the world's shortest football season (00:44)Part 2: A first for the Faroes and Bosnia & Herzegovina, plus the remarkable rise of Raków to the brink of Europe's top table (15:25)Part 3: Drunk Latvian refs, the stand-in linesman wearing gold boots & a revolt against Samuel Eto'o in Cameroon (30:42) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who needs the European group stages? It's clearly all about the qualifying rounds - and with a major milestone for the Faroe Islands, notable results for Andorra and Malta, and a number of other captivating storylines across the continent, there's plenty for co-hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson to get stuck into on this episode of The Sweeper.In Part 1, Lee & Paul start off by talking (once again) about team of the moment KÍ Klaksvík and another headline from the Nordic nations: the Icelandic youngster whose hat-trick knocked his father out of the Champions League. Then there's a crazy game in Kosovo with 23 minutes of added time, a landmark for Santa Coloma of Andorra & a look at the eight countries that have never had a group-stage representative.Then, in Part 2, we turn our attentions to the state of limbo facing the Afghanistan women's team, the curious case of a raccoon that fell through a US press box ceiling, the Greenlandic team missing the Championship to go on a reindeer hunt and an Austrian derby that has been 18 years in the making as Austria Salzburg are drawn against Red Bull Salzburg - the club that bought them out back in 2005.RUNNING ORDER:Part 1 - The European qualifying rounds: Faroese magic, father-son battles & stoppage time madness (00:44)Part 2 - The Afghan women's team, Greenlandic reindeer hunts, raccoons in the US press box and a spicy Salzburg derby (18:40) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sweeper crew have been to Liechtenstein and San Marino in recent months – but the 26,000km round-trip to Micronesia was by far our biggest off-the-beaten-track football adventure. Having now overcome the jetlag, Paul has the full story on the Pacific nation’s first-ever futsal tournament and its newly assembled Football Association.Part 1 sees us reflect on Paul’s past in Micronesia as the world's youngest international football coach, the Twitter DM from Kenny that changed everything, the tournament format, the lost suitcase of futsal shoes, Kosrae’s controversial path to the final, Yap’s victory, the trophy flown in from Guam, an emergency wood carving and much more besides.Then, in Part 2, we talk about the establishment of an FA, the constitution that Paul wrote on the plane, the importance of futsal to Micronesia’s football strategy and whether the AFC or the OFC offers the likeliest route to membership in a FIFA Confederation. Lastly, we chat about the upcoming sequel to Paul’s popular book “Up Pohnpei” and where you can read it.Finally, in Part 3, it’s time for our usual European football round-up. Faroese side KÍ Klaksvík pull off a huge shock in the Champions League qualifiers, Glentoran and Gżira United play out the highest-scoring penalty shootout in UEFA history, there’s a night to remember for Andorra and two Crimean clubs are incorporated into the Russian football pyramid.RUNNING ORDER:Part 1 – The first-ever Micronesian futsal tournament: the Twitter DM that changed everything, Kosrae’s controversial path to the final & Yap’s victory (00:45)Part 2 – The first-ever Micronesian futsal tournament: the establishment of an FA, routes to membership in a FIFA Confederation & the sequel to “Up Pohnpei” (20:23)Part 3 – The European football round-up: KÍ Klaksvík’s UCL upset, the highest-scoring shootout in UEFA history & the contested fate of two Crimean clubs (33:48) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You might think there's not much going on in the football world at the height of summer - but there are in fact plenty of talking points to be explored by Sweeper co-hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson, who is recording the pod ahead of his mammoth 60-hour, 13,229km journey from London to Micronesia to watch the nation's first-ever futsal tournament.Part 1 is dedicated to our very favourite part of the European football calendar: the qualifying rounds for the UEFA club competitions. We discuss the biggest away days, the first-time participants, the clubs from outside the top flight involved and a chance encounter with the Borac Banja Luka director at a Balkan wedding.The next segment looks ahead to the latest edition of the biennial Island Games, which will see islands ranging from Greenland (the largest in the world) to St. Helena (one of the most remote on the planet & the place Napoleon was exiled to) compete in a football tournament held on the Channel Island of Guernsey this July.Last up, we show some love for the summer leagues: the only two top-flight clubs in Europe based in the Arctic Circle are dominating Norway's Eliteserien, KÍ Klaksvík are chasing the almost-impossible feat of a perfect season and there's an update on the punishments handed out to the Belarusian trio that were involved in match-fixing.RUNNING ORDER:PART 1 - The European club competition qualifying rounds: debutants, lower-league clubs, banned teams, away days & a Balkan wedding (00:44)PART 2 - The Island Games in Guernsey: the history, the participants, the frontrunners, the sponsor and the future of the tournament (16:19)PART 3 - Summer leagues: Arctic Circle superiority in Norway, a potential perfect season in the Faroes & the aftermath of the Belarusian betting scandal (28:53) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The club season might be over in 42 UEFA countries, but co-hosts Lee Wingate and Paul Watson have plenty of stand-out international headlines to work their way through on the latest episode of The Sweeper, which was edited by Tom Middler.The first segment of the pod is dedicated to Lee's trip to see San Marino, who extended their unwanted world-record winless run to 130 games against Kazakhstan in Parma - despite giving a pretty impressive account of themselves in the first half.The next segment covers the other major talking points from the international period, including Moldova's stunning comeback win against Poland, Luxembourg's first back-to-back EURO qualifying victories since 1995 & a series of stunning records set by Andorran legend Ildefons Lima.Next up is our main story for this episode, the treble achieved by OPBG in the Vatican, before we turn our attentions to the man on Interpol's wanted list who submitted takeover bids in Belgium and St. Kitts & Nevis' qualification for the Gold Cup. There's also an honourable mention for Father Ted, Craig Bellamy and the Eurovision Song Contest.RUNNING ORDERPART 1 - Lee's visit to Parma to see San Marino & the Kazakh fan that travelled 5,000km only to be denied entry (00:44)PART 2 - The big headlines from the international period: Moldova's success, Luxembourg's upturn & Ildefons Lima's records (17:46)PART 3 - A Vatican treble for the Children's Hospice, a suspicious takeover attempt or four in Belgium & St. Kitts & Nevis at the GoldCup (32:37) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lee Wingate and Paul Watson return with some more tales of football off the beaten track, including some live experiences on opposite sides of the globe, a quirky football geography segment and some of their favourite other stories from across the European continent.Lee kicks off the first segment with the remarkable story of Austrian club GAK, whose meteoric rise from the eighth to the first tier in the space of a decade was ruined in the last second by Mario Balotelli's haircut twin, before Paul previews his trip to Micronesia to watch the nation's first futsal tournament and discusses his feelings about spending 60 hours on a plane.Next up is the geography section: the extraordinary tale of a Mongolian footballer & Man Utd fan who is cycling from his yurt in Ulaanbaatar to Old Trafford, the new contenders for the biggest away days in top-flight European football and the closest stadiums to an international land border across the continent's top 20 leagues. The two co-hosts then take on another challenge from Surprise Shirts to see if they can identify a mystery football jersey.In the final section, Paul & Lee discuss an Ajaccio player’s embarrassing end to an away trip to Lens, Polish side Ruch Chorzow’s unique rollercoaster ride since 2017 and an exciting new (and young) addition to the 15-team league in San Marino.RUNNING ORDER:PART 1 - Lee's visit to Dornbirn for the promotion party that went wrong & Paul's preview of Micronesia's first-ever futsal tournament (00:40)PART 2 - Football geography: intercontinental bike rides, the biggest top-flight away days next season & border football stadiums (15:36); the Surprise Shirts mystery jersey guessing game (29:37)PART 3 - The best of the rest: Ajaccio in France, Ruch Chorzów in Poland & San Marino Academy in...San Marino (34:16) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pod duo Lee Wingate and Paul Watson are back with another carefully curated batch of weird and wonderful stories from across the football world, with Tom Middler returning to the virtual studio to produce the episode. Lee reflects on his trip to Liechtenstein’s Cup Final - where FC Vaduz unsurprisingly win a world-record 49th domestic cup - and his subsequent 50km hike through the hills to see all seven football stadiums in the micro-state in the space of 24 hours.Promotions and relegations are on the agenda next: there is a premature pitch invasion or two in Germany, a mistimed open-top bus parade in Luxembourg, a calamitous stadium inauguration in Romania and a European berth for Arsenal – the one in Montenegro, of course!That is followed by a look at Europe’s biggest top-flight away day in Kazakhstan, a disastrous own goal in Lithuania and an amusing misspelling in the British Virgin Islands. The team then conclude by revealing more details about their upcoming Patreon launch.RUNNING ORDER:PART 1 – Lee’s lookback at the Liechtenstein Cup Final & his misjudged micro-state stadium hike (00:47)PART 2 – Bizarre tales of promotions & relegations: Germany, Luxembourg, Romania & Montenegro (14:28)PART 3 – Away days, own goals & misspellings: Kazakhstan, Lithuania & the British Virgin Islands (36:33) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Co-hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson return to the virtual studio on their opposite sides of the Channel for another audio journey around the world of football in the space of 45 minutes, with extended Sweeper family member Tom Middler returning as producer.The football season may be winding down but that means it’s cup final time across the continent. Lee is preparing to travel to see the showpiece event in Liechtenstein between Balzers & Vaduz and hike to every stadium in the country the following day.The domestic cup round-up does not stop there, as the team talk about the second-tier outfit in the Luxembourg cup final, the first seventh-tier side to qualify for the Copa del Rey in 120 years & the pitch-invading toddler in Finland – the land of epic club names. Paul tells the story of North Macedonia’s record champions resorting to Crowdfunder, in a segment that also covers the three Belarusian sides involved in a match-fixing scandal and the club in San Marino holding try-outs for players.And finally, there are some feel-good stories: a 49-year-old goalkeeping coach keeps a clean sheet in the Faroes, Kecskemét are Europe’s best promoted club, an Italian coach calls his mum in a pitchside interview and Belenenses equal a world promotion record.RUNNING ORDER:PART 1 – Lee’s trip to Liechtenstein to attend the cup final (00:43); lower-league cup stories in Luxembourg, Spain and Finland (10:07)PART 2 – Clubs in a spot of bother: North Macedonia, Belarus and San Marino (17:44)PART 3 – Feel-good stories: the Faroe Islands, Hungary, Italy and Portugal (32:46) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the majority of the European seasons nearing a conclusion and the 12 summer leagues now up and running, there is plenty for hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson to sink their teeth into on the latest edition of The Sweeper.Having revealed his tentative plans to become a sporting director at a sixth-division Italian club, Paul is reminded of his claim that he could beat Man Utd defender Axel Tuanzebe's Guinness World Record for clearing a Hungry Hippos board in 17.36 seconds & is challenged by Lee to a quiz about unlikely world records held by football players.The remainder of the opening segment is dedicated to the Iberian peninsula, with a chat about the former pub team that won Gibraltar's Rock Cup followed by a look at the Spanish side that have lost every game for 11 years and conceded over 4,000 goals in the process.Part two delves deeper into off-the-pitch matters such as Viktor Orbán's financial backing for football clubs outside of Hungary, Fortuna Düsseldorf's free ticket pilot project and the Brazilian club that have named themselves after now-disbanded Ukrainian outfit Mariupol.Last but not least, the team metaphorically sprint around the continent rounding up all the premature title-winners, champions-elect, unlikely promotion contenders and surprise relegations, before revealing their plans for the show over the summer.RUNNING ORDER:PART 1 - Paul's plans to become an Italian club's sporting director & the Guinness World Record quiz (00:42); stories from the Iberian peninsula (06:39); Surprise Shirts read-out (13:30)PART 2 - Off the pitch stories: soft power in Hungary, free tickets in Germany, an away crowd of one in South Korea & a renamed club in Brazil (15:58)PART 3 - A round-up of all the champions, promotion battles and relegation dogfights across Europe (30:48) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson return to the virtual studio for another episode of The Sweeper - the show that goes further and wider than any other football podcast out there.Beer is the recurring theme in the opening segment, where Paul tells the story of the Polish referees that allegedly got drunk on a flight to Greece & Lee laughs at the Croatian coach who made his players train at 1 in the morning after getting home from an away game.We then have a brief chat with Louis Jones from our sponsor Surprise Shirts, before embarking upon a whistlestop tour of the globe that sees us cover headlines from Bhutan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Australia and China.In the final segment, we talk about some of the very best and worst-performing teams in the entire world this season - from the Outer Hebridean side with a wonky pitch that won 16-1 at the weekend to the Greek team that kept having their points deductions overturned.RUNNING ORDER:PART 1 - Lee's upcoming trip to San Marino (00:52); European round-up: Netherlands, Poland, Greece, Croatia & Wales (04:10)PART 2 - A chat with Louis Jones from Surprise Shirts (15:36); global football round-up: Bhutan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Australia, China (19:43)PART 3 - A look at the very best & worst teams in the world this season (29:55) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.