Lee Wingate and Paul Watson explore the weird and wonderful world of football across FIFA’s 211 member states – and sometimes beyond.
 
Join us once a fortnight as we round up the global football headlines with a touch of geography, politics, history, culture and food, plus a healthy dose of humour.
 
Listen to our next episode on Wednesday 13 November 2024 or join us for a bonus podcast on Patreon on Wednesday 6 November. Sign up at patreon.com/SweeperPod.

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This episode is brought to you in association with FIFA+. Click here to get your free FIFA+ account and watch live football around the world: tinyurl.com/FIFAPlusSweeper&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; 
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Click here to buy the November issue of World Soccer: https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/single-issue/world-soccer-magazine&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; 
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&lt;p&gt;In Part 1, the focus is on the club game in the continent The Sweeper calls home: Europe. Why did the entire Njegoš team simultaneously collapse in the Montenegrin third division? And was there any truth to the plutonium poisoning allegations? How did Ängelholms in the fourth tier of Swedish women’s football miss out on the title despite not conceding a goal? And what bizarre record did their goalkeeper end the season with? And why did Breiðablik fans stage a break-in ahead of their final-day title-decider with Víkingur Reykjavík in Iceland?&lt;/p&gt; 
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&lt;p&gt;Part 2 contains a selection of stories from Africa, Asia, Central America and Oceania. Why has a second club from New Zealand, Auckland FC, joined Australia’s A-League? And why will their upcoming match against Wellington Phoenix be unique in world football? What has led TP Mazembe in DR Congo to play Nigerian goalkeeper Suleman Shaibu in attack? How did Wolues of the British Virgin Islands come to have a misspelling in their name? And how are the two clubs from war-torn Sudan playing 5,000km away in Mauritania getting on?&lt;/p&gt; 
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&lt;p&gt;If you don’t want to wait until 13 November for our next episode, join us on Patreon for our bonus episodes in the in-between weeks. Simply sign up at patreon.com/SweeperPod and join us for a special pod on 6 November. We will be joined by some special guests to talk about their recent groundhops in Slovenia and Croatia, before rounding up some other stories from Russia, Uzbekistan and Eritrea. Patrons also get access to our Discord chat community, bonus blogs, weekly newsletters and entry into our shirt giveaways too.&lt;/p&gt; 
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&lt;p&gt;RUNNING ORDER:&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;00:00 – Intro&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;00:43 – Montenegro’s mass collapse&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;07:24 – Sweden’s perfect runners-up&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;11:54 – Iceland’s final-day title decider&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;16:12 – Other summer league tales&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;21:03 – Kiwi club’s debut in the A-League&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;29:28 – An attacking keeper in DR Congo&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;34:14 – The Sweeper Super Sunday on FIFA+&lt;/p&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;41:15 – First Vienna game with a patron 
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&lt;p&gt;Editor: Ralph Foster&lt;/p&gt;

The Sweeper - A World Football Podcast

The Data