Football Weekly is a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

about

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

produced by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was first broadcast in 2006. It reviews the latest football results and news, and previews forthcoming matches. While focused on the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and English football more broadly, the show pays significant attention to football across Europe, paying particular attention to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

and the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. Originally provided weekly—as its name suggests—Football Weekly, as of 2021, broadcasts three times a week during the European football season. The original episode release day was Monday, after the weekend's fixtures, and since 2007 a second weekly podcast, ''Football Weekly Extra'', has aired on Thursdays to review midweek action and preview the next weekend's matches. A third weekly episode published on Tuesdays or Wednesdays has been produced since June 2020, typically either focusing on news from non-British European leagues, or providing space for extended discussions of particular topics.

History

The podcast began on 11 May 2006 as ''The World Cup Show'', produced daily throughout the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

, and returned during the season under its new name on 29 August 2006, due to popular demand. During

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

and

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, the podcast has aired daily. The show was originally presented by James Richardson, with contributions by various ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

'' journalists and freelance correspondents, most regularly

Barry Glendenning Barry Glendenning (born 12 March 1973) is an Irish sports journalist who holds the position of deputy sports editor on the ''guardian.co.uk'' website run by UK newspaper ''The Guardian''. Glendenning was born in Birr, County Offaly and atte ...

. Richardson and journalist Iain Macintosh left in July 2017 for a new rival podcast, ''

The Totally Football Show The Totally Football Show' presented by James Richardson is a thrice weekly podcast about association football produced by Muddy Knees Media. From June 15, 2020 it was incorporated into and also available via The Athletic. It regularly features ...

''. Richardson was replaced by

Max Rushden Max Paul Rushden (born 18 April 1979) is an English radio and television presenter and the current host of ''The Guardian''s '' Football Weekly'' podcast. Career Rushden's first presenting role was BBC London 94.9's breakfast show from December ...

. Rushden explains that the show "ranges from proper analysis of what has happened on the pitch in the UK and around Europe, to commentary about serious issues off it, balanced with some complete nonsense." Speaking in the wake of the 2018 World Cup, the ''Guardian's'' head of sport called the podcast "a brand leader despite plenty of opposition including from the ''

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

''. It is one of our greatest multimedia successes." Since the late 2010s, the programme has paid greater attention to women's football, giving more frequent segments and occasional dedicated episodes to the women's game.

Awards

In April 2008 Football Weekly was nominated for Sports Programme of the Year in the annual

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

– the UK's main national radio awards. In 2018 the

Football Supporters' Federation The Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) was an organisation representing football fans in England and Wales. It campaigned across a range of issues and supports fan representation on clubs' boards, lower ticket prices, and the introduction of ...

awarded ''Football Weekly'' the ''Podcast of the Year'' for the second year running and the fifth time in the last six years. ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' called the show "one of the big beasts of football podcasting".Nicholson, Tom
"The Best Football Podcasts For The New Season"
''

'', 13 August 2019. Retrieved on 14 August 2019.

Regular panellists

Other occasional contributors include Jim Burke, Andy Hunter, Gregg Bakowski, Sean Ingle, Louise Taylor, Anne-Marie Batson, Elis James,

Jacqui Oatley Jacqueline Anne Oatley (born 28 December 1974) is an English broadcaster who works as a football commentator for TNT Sports UK and other broadcasters, calling games at the FIFA World Cup, Premier League, FA Women's Super League, UEFA Champions ...

, Paul Doyle, Rory Smith, Paul MacInnes. James, Oatley and Carruthers are occasional guest hosts in the absence of Rushden, while MacInnes is a previous guest host of the show. Lowe, Rhind-Tutt and Wrack will typically only appear to discuss matters pertaining to, respectively, Spanish, German and women's football. While also appearing on regular shows, in podcasts specifically themed around European football, Auclair and Bandini are the respective regular experts on the French and Italian game.

Former panellists

Former guest hosts

References

External links

* {{Podcast platform links Audio podcasts Football mass media in the United Kingdom 2006 podcast debuts British podcasts Sports podcasts The Guardian