The Football Weekend

David Novo from Lisbon's Record newspaper joins to help us preview the Dérbi de Lisboa, as Benfica host Sporting CP in a battle for bragging rights in the Portuguese capital. Along with Porto — which hails from the town of the same name further north — they make up the Big Three clubs in this nation of under 11 million people that punches far above its weight on the global stage.We got into how, exactly, Portugal and these clubs in particular produce so many fantastic players. We traced some of the history of this rivalry, including the crucial intervention of the legendary Eusébio, who turned the tide after years of Sporting dominance to deliver Benfica into a new era. We talked over the return of José Mourinho to Portuguese football, as he's now coaching Benfica after all his years of massive success with Porto and across Europe. And David offered some intel on where to eat and drink if you’re going to the Estádio da Luz — where this one will be played on Friday — or the Estádio José Alvalade.Follow David on Twitter and Instagram 👍And get your rundown of all the matches worth your time this weekend at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

Brad Friedel played his college ball at UCLA and had a stint at Liverpool before a longer and seriously fruitful one at Blackburn Rovers. He also stopped shots for Aston Villa and for Tottenham Hotspur, where in his final season he ran into a guy named Mauricio Pochettino. The goalkeeper, who was capped 82 times for the U.S. Men’s National Team, got a front-row seat to the Argentine’s methods when he came in and transformed the club, and his faith has never wavered that Pochettino will deliver now as head coach of the American team.We talked about all that when Friedel joined the show this Thanksgiving week, but we also got into a fascinating early chapter of his career. In 1995, he went off to Istanbul to play for Graeme Souness at Galatasaray. Along the way, he got a true taste of one of the world’s most combustible football derbies, Galatasaray against Fenerbahce, the latest edition of which will play out this coming Monday.Friedel talked the derby, his times with Brian Clough and Kevin Keegan, and a bit about life in Istanbul.Get more sharp coverage of the world's game at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

The World Cup is a sporting competition between national football teams to determine the best of them. But it’s always been a vessel for so much more, not least the ambitions of political leaders ranging from the mildly ethical to the downright evil. Host countries want to tell a story about themselves on the global stage, the winners make the case for their own national greatness, and there are a million more stories around this famous tournament that nobody planned for.A new book from Jonathan Wilson — columnist for The Guardian, co-host of the Libero podcast, and esteemed local Substacker — seeks to tell the very best tales from nearly 100 years of World Cup football. The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup is a delightful read, full of sharp insight and laugh-out-loud moments. From Benito Mussolini’s bonus trophy for the 1934 World Cup winners — the Coppa del Duce — to the inside story of France’s disastrous 2010 World Cup, to the insidious inner workings of FIFA in the modern era, it’s all there.Wilson joins the show this week to talk a little Premier League title race before we get into his book, the latest edition of the World Cup next summer, why Gianni Infantino’s reign as FIFA chief makes us all pine for the days of Sepp Blatter, and a whole lot more.Go get your copy of The Power and the Glory after you’ve had a listen here!Get more sharp coverage of the world's game at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

There’s a big game down in Italy on Saturday, but there’s only one headliner for this weekend. It’s El Clásico, Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu, the biggest game in club football outside the late stages of the Champions League.This one is box office each and every time, even if we’ve descended somewhat from the interstellar days of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. We’ll make do with Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Jude Bellingham, and whoever wins out here will take pole position in the Spanish title race. With Atlético Madrid fading somewhat, this is a campaign that could well end with both these teams taking 90+ points — or, as this week’s guest suggests, perhaps they both have more weaknesses than you might think.Here to help us get our bearings ahead of kickoff on Sunday (11:15am ET / 3:15pm UK) is Dan Hilton of The Barcelona Podcast.Get more sharp coverage of the world's game at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

Club football is back and so is Germany’s biggest game. It’s BAYERN MUNICH vs BORUSSIA DORTMUND in Der Klassiker.The Bavarian hosts have returned to their formidable best with 11 wins from 11 matches across all competitions this season. Bayern have scored 25 goals in six Bundesliga matches, with Harry Kane, Luis Díaz, and Michael Olisé firing on all cylinders. They are once again among the favorites to win the Champions League.On the other side, the last couple of years weren’t up to Dortmund’s standards domestically as they fell away from what they’ll feel is their rightful place as Bayern’s main challengers. But they now look to have reclaimed that spot from Bayer Leverkusen and are unbeaten in the league, though they’ve relied more on stout defense than explosive attack.This one’s shaping up well, and joining us to preview the match is the commentary team who will deliver it to American viewers on ESPN at 12:30pm ET on Saturday: Derek Rae and Stewart Robson, who also happen to be the in-game commentators for EA Sports FC 26 — and many previous iterations of the famous franchise formerly known as FIFA!We got into how they record play-by-play for video-game matches that haven’t happened yet, their travels together across Germany (and shared taste for bratwurst), and much more...Get more sharp coverage of the world's game at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

It’s the second international break of the young club season, so we’re continuing our tour around the continents to see who’s doing what in World Cup qualifying. This week we head over to the Confederation of African Football to see who’s on their way to North America next summer, plus:How the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams rights a historical wrong with respect to how many tickets African nations get every four years.The wonderful story of Cape Verde, population half a million, who are on the verge of qualifying for their first world cup.Why the continent’s traditional powers like Nigeria and Cameroon are struggling to qualify.Why the power base of the continent is moving north to Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, thanks in part to changes to FIFA rules and the North African diaspora in Europe.The controversy around South Africa’s qualifying campaign and why they are the most rapidly improving team on the continent.Here to break it all down is Maher Mezahi, an African football journalist based in Algiers who hosts the African Five-a-Side podcast:Get more sharp coverage of the world's game at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

Monaco and Nice are not the biggest clubs in the South of France — that’s Marseille — but they maintain a testy feud that carries the cultural differences between the two towns. The Principality of Monaco is fiercely independent from France but plays in Ligue 1 alongside Nice, a gorgeous but (somewhat) less glitzy destination than the champagne-and-caviar precincts of the Monégasques.AS Monaco has a rich footballing tradition in recent decades, from the Arsène Wenger days (and those of Thierry Henry and George Weah) to more recent times, when the club has been a kind of finishing school for elite talent like Kylian Mbappé and Bernardo Silva. OGC Nice has not enjoyed the same success recently, and yet engenders fierce support rooted in deep tradition that Monaco can’t always match: the Stade Louis II, where this weekend’s match will be played, has inconsistent attendance in a town where football isn’t always paramount.Meanwhile, both clubs are seeing varying levels of fan revolt over poor results and msigivings about how they’re run — not least Nice, where fans are even more disenchanted with Sir Jim Ratcliffe than Manchester United supporters. That combined with a rebellion against French footballing authorities has spurred a boycott among Nice ultras, who will not be attending this match or enjoying their traditional mass scooter procession across the 20-or-so kilometers from Nice to Monaco.Joining us to break it all down is Jonathan Johnson, a Paris-based French football expert.if you like what you hear in this episode, leave us a rating and review! It helps spread the good word about The Football Weekend.

It’s the Madrid derby this Saturday as Atlético host Real Madrid at the Metropolitano, and ahead of the big game we’re getting into some La Liga history. There’s a thrilling story of how two Racing Santander players defied Generalissimo Franco’s fascist regime, a look at the man largely in Santiago Bernabéu’s shadow who did so much to make Real Madrid what it is today, and the tale of how a flying Atléti winger became a Nazi spy.Each of those is a chapter of Once Upon a Time in La Liga, a new book out this month. Author Brendan Madden joins the show to share them, talk about his path from data journalist to football storyteller, and of course talk about how the current versions of Atléti and Los Blancos are looking coming into this weekend’s marquee fixture.Be sure to pick up a copy of the book: https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/once-upon-time-la-ligaAnd if you like what you hear in this episode, leave us a rating and review! It helps spread the good word about The Football Weekend.Get more sharp conversations, thoughtful commentary, and on-the-ground reporting: https://www.thefootballweekend.com/

It's the Merseyside derby this weekend, and we get into that feud a bit with this week's guest. After all, Stephen Warnock came up through the Liverpool academy and has been to Anfield and Goodison Park umpteen times (and to Everton's brand new Hill Dickson Stadium once). But that’s not the marquee match of the round. Neither is Man United-Chelsea.The big one is ARSENAL vs MANCHESTER CITY at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, and it could tell us a lot about whether the Premier League is about to see a two-horse title race, a three-way, or even a foursome if Chelsea get involved. It will certainly have a different feel from those recent seasons where Pep Guardiola got the better of his ex-pupil Mikel Arteta, however, because Arsenal come into this one as firm favorites.Beyond all that, Warnock also talks about a couple of his more idiosyncratic managers back in his playing days, Big Sam Allardyce and Neil Warnock. He also remembers sharing a flank with streets-won't-forget Barclaysman Morten Gamst Pedersen, and these are the kind of behind-the-scenes stories you'll find — along with some expert insight into the fitness and recovery side of things — on his new podcast, Strain on the Game.Check that out, but first: Have a listen here, leave a review if you enjoy yourself, and check out more sharp conversations and on-the-ground reporting at The Football Weekend.com.