UEFA: 21/55 ✅ 🆕 ALBANIA 🇦🇱 🇦🇹 Austria, 🇦🇩 Andorra, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇨🇿 Czechia, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England, 🇫🇷 France, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇬🇮 Gibraltar 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇱🇻 Latvia, 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein, 🇱🇹 Lithuania, 🇲🇹 Malta, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇸🇲 San Marino, 🇷🇸 Serbia, 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇨🇭 Switzerland #ad

🇦🇱 Full-time in the Tirana derby: FK Partizani 1-3 KF Tirana, who were deserving of the victory. Full story about the match, the visit to Tirana and the Albanian club serving the longest ban in UEFA history - all on the next episode 🔜

🌻 No1 football food in Albania: sunflower seeds! 😋

📍 Air Albania Stadium 🇦🇱 Derby day in Tirana! It’s FK Partizani v KF Tirana - Albania’s biggest football rivalry. Huge, huge police presence. But we’re in - and we’re under way!

🇦🇺 South Melbourne have become the first-ever non-A-League side to win the Australia Cup! It will now be interesting to see what happens next as the cup winner usually qualifies for Asian (AFC) tournaments, but South Melbourne already play in Oceania as an inaugural member of the OFC Pro League!

🗣️ We are really proud to be the only football podcast out there that covers EVERY country in the entire world, bringing you stories from all 211 FIFA member nations and beyond. And we’re now making two free episodes a week! If you haven’t tuned in yet, give us a try! ⤵️

Thanks so much for the nice message. We’re really happy you decided to join us on our audio journey around the football world! ☺️

Jeremy@jashton11.bsky.social · 3d ago

Just wanted to drop a note to say how much I enjoy the podcast! I’ve seen your social media posts for a while, but I didn’t start listening until recently. I like learning about other parts of the soccer/football world beyond the major European leagues.

📍 Air Albania Stadium 🇦🇱🏟️ Opened in 2019, the 22,500 seat arena will host the Tirana derby between FK Partizani & KF Tirana on Sunday. Boasting a 112m high tower in one corner, it also features a bizarre array of shops where you can buy everything from a yacht to a hair transplant.

A few years ago, I got into the Indian and Chinese domestic football leagues, and still follow Romanian players in the latter. Always wondered why the leagues/national teams aren't good. Highly recommend this Sweeper episode, which does a fantastic job analyzing this question.

The Sweeper Podcast@sweeperpod.bsky.social · 6d ago

📺 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 📺 🔎 India & China 🔎 👥 2.9b people: The world's largest countries 🏆 One World Cup appearance between them 💥 Two domestic leagues in total disarray 🇮🇳 India: Brazil glamour game > FIFA ASEAN Cup 🇨🇳 China: 0-3 to New Zealand, 0-5 to Palestine

📺 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 📺 🇩🇴 Hispaniola's first derby in 13 years 🇭🇹 ↔️ DR & Haiti's tense neighbourly relations 🏟️ Bottlenecks & broken stadium property 🗣️ Wilson Isidor's sovereignty claims? 🏝️ Rarest shared island derbies worldwide 📈 The Caribbean's diaspora-induced rise

Hello, Albania! 🇦🇱🤩

📺 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 📺 🔎 India & China 🔎 👥 2.9b people: The world's largest countries 🏆 One World Cup appearance between them 💥 Two domestic leagues in total disarray 🇮🇳 India: Brazil glamour game > FIFA ASEAN Cup 🇨🇳 China: 0-3 to New Zealand, 0-5 to Palestine

🎙️ NEW BONUS PODCAST 🎙️ 🇫🇷 10th-tier Coupe de France cupset ❌ Quirkiest tournament eliminations 🇦🇮 Aedan Scipio’s double hair pull 🇴🇲 Oman’s almost costly celebration 🇨🇭 Hells Angels COVID certificates Sign up at patreon.com/sweeperpod 🤩

🇦🇱 We’re super excited to be heading to a new UEFA country this week: Albania 🤩 📆 The plan: Saturday: KF Elbasani v KF Vora Sunday: FK Partizani v KF Tirana Any and all recommendations for Albania greatly appreciated. And if you’re going to be at either game, let us know!

🇽🇰 Kosovo are Europe’s newest country and UEFA’s newest member. Now we can say we’ve finally seen them live 🤩 Join us on Futbology to track your live matches. Comment ‘app’ below and we’ll send you a free download link. #ad

❌ There are currently seven banned pairings in UEFA. Could Ireland-Israel become the eighth? 🇮🇪🇮🇱 Want to hear our investigation using the same criteria UEFA used for Albania-Serbia? Then comment ‘podcast’ below and we’ll DM you a link.

❌ There are seven pairs of UEFA members whose national & club teams cannot be drawn together: 🇪🇸 Spain-Gibraltar 🇬🇮, 🇦🇲 Armenia-Azerbaijan 🇦🇿, 🇽🇰 Kosovo-Serbia 🇷🇸, 🇽🇰 Kosovo-Bosnia & Herzegovina 🇧🇦, 🇽🇰 Kosovo-Russia 🇷🇺, 🇺🇦 Ukraine-Russia 🇷🇺, 🇺🇦 Ukraine-Belarus 🇧🇾

🗣️ Why Russia has been banned but Israel hasn’t, according to UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin… Comment ‘podcast’ and we’ll send a DM to the show straight to your inbox via DM.

📺 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 📺 🌍 Global round-up 🌍 🗣️ Čeferin's comments on Russia's ban 🇮🇪 Ireland's dramatic day in a Debrecen hotel ❌ The FAI's request to avoid playing Israel 🆚 UEFA's 7 banned international pairings 🇽🇰 Kosovo: FIFA's newest member country live Watch or listen on Spotify, Apple or YouTube! 🤩

🏝️ It’s shared island derby day in the Caribbean: 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic v Haiti 🇭🇹

🌍 There are only four confederation associate members worldwide: 🇰🇮 Kiribati (OFC) 🇷🇪 Réunion (CAF) 🇹🇻 Tuvalu (OFC) 🇹🇿 Zanzibar (CAF) But what does that actually mean? THREAD 🧵

🇱🇮 Liechtenstein is currently the only UEFA member without its own league. It would need an eighth club to form one (though whether it would want to is another matter). Here are three options... THREAD 🧵

🇵🇹 Almost all football fans in Portugal support only three clubs: 🔴 Benfica (46%) 🔵 Porto (24.7%) 🟢 Sporting (23.8%) Why? THREAD 🧵

📺 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 📺 📅 Club football in the international window 📅 ❌ The countries without a league 🇱🇮🇵🇰 📰 The countries not on scores apps 🇰🇵🇪🇷 🇪🇺 European leagues with fixtures 🇮🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🌎 Worldwide leagues with fixtures 🇨🇦🇰🇷 📊 Highest-ranked leagues with fixtures 🇦🇷🇲🇽

🌍 FIFA has 211 members. Only four do not have their own domestic league at present: 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein 🇲🇸 Montserrat 🇳🇵 Nepal 🇵🇰 Pakistan Why? THREAD 🧵

🎙️ NEW BONUS PODCAST 🎙️ 🪟 Highlights from the international window 🪟 🇨🇰 Cook Islands: First home game in 28 years! 🇵🇭 Philippines: Asian Games curse finally over 🇲🇬 Madagascar keeper dropped for interview 🇰🇼 Salisbury FC: Sixth-tier side off to Kuwait Sign up at patreon.com/sweeperpod 🤩

UEFA Nations League 🏟️ 🇦🇹 Austria 3-1 Kosovo 🇽🇰

🇽🇰 Really excited at the first opportunity to watch Kosovo, FIFA’s joint-newest member country (joined at the same FIFA Congress as Gibraltar on 13 May 2016), live in action - against Austria in Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadion!

📺 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 📺 🌍 Global round-up 🌍 🇰🇷 Korean military club's last K-League hurrah 🪖 🇹🇭 Andros Townsend's bizarre Thai accident 🏥 🇺🇾 Uruguay's first Copa Sudamericana winner? 🏆 🇮🇸 Icelandic referee on a wild goose chase 🪿 🇷🇴 Romania's black card for abusive parents ⬛️

🏟️ Our next match: 🇦🇹 Austria vs. Kosovo 🇽🇰 at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna 🔜 Which games are you heading to during the international window? 🪟 Comment “app” and we’ll send a free download link for @FutbologyApp straight to your inbox via DM. #ad