Any Given Thursday

Here we go! Fiorentina-Olympiacos is here and so is our preview pod! We revisit the path both sides took to the final - Olympiacos' first ever European final appearance, Fiorentina's second Conference League final in as many years - identify key players and tactics, and make our predictions. Cheers to Vincenzo Italiano and José Luis Mendilibar!

Atalanta are Europa League champions, winning their first ever European title and first major trophy since 1963! And all they had to do was knock off the formerly-invincible, 51-game-undefeated-streak fighting Xabi Alonsos. We talk all about the game, Gasperini's brilliant tactics and Atalanta's flawless execution, Lookman's start turn, Leverkusen's struggles throughout, consequential lineup decis...

The Europa League final is finally upon us, and we at Any Given Thursday are here to deliver you all the key storylines. First, we recap how Leverkusen and Atalanta made it to the last UEL fixture of the season, along with successes and challenges along the way, then we dive into the game itself, breaking down lineup decisions, key matchups, and take a stab at predicting the outcome. This should b...

And just like that, we have our two finals! Leverkusen STILL undefeated (by the skin of their teeth), Atalanta dominates, Olympiacos cruises, and Fiorentina does Fiorentina things. We recap all four games, look ahead to the very exciting finals, and eulogize Roma, Marseille, Villa, and Brugge. We tried set out to make a shorter episode this week and instead made one even longer. So please enjoy ou...

We're halfway to the finals in Athens with a quadruple of thrilling first leg matches. Leverkusen STILL unbeaten, a goal fest in the Conference League, and a huge upset in Birmingham! All that and more this week on Any Given Thursday. Cheers to (hello old friend) José Luis Mendilibar!

We are down to our final 4 clubs in the Europa and Conference Leagues - 8 teams left for 2 European trophies! We discuss all the action from the 2nd legs of the quarterfinals, from Leverkusen's perfection, to Roma's continued resurgence, Villa and Fiorentina hanging on, Atalanta's completed upset, and so much more. Plus, we take a sneak peak into the 4 semifinal matchups, including a thrilling Rom...

Our precious Europa and Conference Leagues have finally returned to us, and with them, as usual, came great drama. Atalanta put in one of the performances of the season, smashing Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield! Elsewhere, Roma gets a big win in Milan, Villa and Lille do battle, a wild one between Olympiacos and Fenerbahce, and Leverkusen continues their undefeated season (congrats on its first ever Bund...

Our Club Spotlight returns with a deep dive on Thessaloniki, Greece's own PAOK FC! David spotlight's the club's rich history, its recent run of successes, its many second place finishes, and so much more! Cheers Giannis Konstantelias!

Jacob and Max are back to share all about the 1st and 2nd rounds of the tournament! Here, we continue on with the West and South, where we discuss the few sizable upsets of the tournament, including near-Cinderella Oakland. Elsewhere, Houston gets it done in an OT thriller, Clemson surprises, and Marquette squeezes through. Then we finish with a look ahead to Sweet 16 and Elite 8 and make our upda...

Jacob and Max are back to share all about the 1st and 2nd rounds of the tournament! Here, we begin in the East and Midwest, where we discuss strong showings from top seeds and some really entertaining games, including a region that Max attended on Friday. Then we finish with a look ahead to Sweet 16 and Elite 8 and make our updated picks. Cheers to Mark Few!

Any Given Thursday presents a brand new limited podcast series, Any Given Bracket, where basketball enthusiast Jacob Hill sits down with Maxwell Brown to discuss all things men's NCAA Tournament 2024. On Part 2 of the episode, we head to the South and West regions, headlined by Houston and North Carolina. We speculate whether anyone can knock off the top seeds in the South, sing the praises of a f...

Any Given Thursday presents a brand new limited podcast series, Any Given Bracket, where basketball enthusiast Jacob Hill sits down with Maxwell Brown to discuss all things men's NCAA Tournament 2024. On Part 1 of the episode, we tackle the East and Midwest regions of the bracket, led by number one seeds UConn and Purdue. We discuss the quality of the high seeds in the East, probe the popular upse...

We're back to cover the Round of 16 in the Europa Conference League! We had some big time matchups this round and only some of them disappointed! And by some, we mean Ajax. Shocker. Elsewhere, we got absolute thrillers in PAOK-Dinamo Zagreb and Maccabi Tel Aviv-Olympiacos, Fiorentina continues to embrace their messy-bitch energy, and Lille and Fenerbahce flexed their title-contention muscles. Fina...

We're back to cover both legs of the Round of 16 in the Europa League! We had two scintillating weeks of action, and while the favorites made it through intact, there were some excruciatingly close calls - namely, Leverkusen-Qarabag. The Azerbaijani side pushed the undefeated German leaders to the absolute limit, but were undone by super-sub Patrik Schick in both legs. Elsewhere, we discuss Liverp...

And that's one knockout round down, four to go! The Playoff Knockout Round of 24 - whatever it's called - is behind us, but not before we break down all the action! We had thrillers in Qarabag and Freiburg, an upset in Prague, and one of the wildest matches you'll ever see in Bodo. Later, we talk both Europa and Conference League draws and pick our best matchups for the Round of 16. Cheers Brian P...

The knockout rounds are back baby! The playoff round (round of 24?) has returned in all its glory, and the Europa and Conference Leagues did not disappoint. We had barnburners in Istanbul, Amsterdam, and Brussels, Qarabag inflicted the upset of the day in Braga, and yet another Feyenoord-Roma rematch ends in a stalemate. And that's just the beginning! Join us in breaking down all of Thursday's act...

We're launching 2024 with a brand new edition of our Club Spotlight series and we're taking our first trip to France! David spills the beans on Toulouse FC, the only club in France's 4th largest city. Following a return to Ligue 1 in 2022, Toulouse made waves, not only by staying up, but by becoming surprise winners of the 2023 Coupe de France, and therefore surprise contestants in the 2023-24 Eur...

Well, folks we've done it. The calendar year has wrapped up in the Europa and Conference League after a scintillating final week of action. We were treated to some barnburners with placement and qualification at stake (Betis 2 - 3 Rangers, Rennes 2 - 3 Villarreal) and some clutch home performances (Brighton beating Marseille, Ludogorets beating Nordsjaelland), and we said goodbye to some of our to...

The penultimate match day of the group stage has come and gone, but thrillingly, most teams find themselves with something to play for! We had some bangers this time out: Marseille ousting Ajax 4-3, with both defenses doing their best youth league impressions, Villarreal holds off a furious Panathinaikos comeback, Aris gets a shock point at the Ibrox, and Nordsjaelland thumps 6 past Fenerbahce. We...

Two-thirds of the group stages have come and gone and the Europa and Conference League groups have started to take shape. We have a few already qualified, a few already eliminated, but most remain for the taking! We take you through all of last Thursday's results and tell you what you have to look forward to in the final weeks of 2023! Cheers to Xabi Alonso AND Miroslav Koubek!

Thrilled to be back covering match day 3, where Olypmiacos got a big win, Leverkusen keeps marching strong, Brighton deepens Ajax's woes, and KI mfing Klaksvik gets their first win in a European group stage. All that and more this week! Cheers to Miroslav Koubek (we said the wrong manager shhh no one say anything) and for a record third time, Magne Hoseth!

Our BELOVED series, Club Spotlight, returns with our most exciting entry to date. Allow us to introduce to you KÍ Klaksvik, Faroe Islands' finest - already a favorite this season on the pod. David walks us through the club's history and culture, the Faroes passion and obsession with football, and explains just how a club of their size from a country its size was able to qualify for a European comp...

Matchday 1 is in the books as the Europa and Conference Leagues kicked off the group stages, and produced upsets, goal fest thrillers, debutants, and more. HSK Zrinjski Mostar produced the story of the week in their first ever group stage appearance, overcoming a 3 goal deficit to take all three points, and shocking last years Conference semifinalists, AZ Alkmaar. Elsewhere, Brighton and Aston Vil...

Join us for our preview for 2023's Europa & Conference League group stages and matchday 1. We even venture into predictions for final tables and beyond, including who we think can win it all. Cheers to Ismail Kartal!

Osasuna OUT! Fiorentina and Lille BARELY scrape through. Nothing's every easy in the Conference League, as we've been forcefully reminded in the past two weeks. All that, the Europa League, and a look ahead to the group stages, here on Any Given Thursday. Cheers to Ronny Deila.