Platini Played For Kuwait

After Matt's trip to Lisbon, which included a trip to the Estadio Jose Alvalade, we decided to take a deep dive into one of Portugal's biggest clubs: Sporting CP. The players, the managers, the games, the falling in love with them on Championship Manager and, most importantly, those beautiful green shirts. Matt’s Choices Bobby Robson and Jose Mourinho at Sporting Mario Jardel's 2001...

As we entered the new millennium, Sven-Göran Eriksson - with the help of wealthy owner Sergio Cragnotti - had put together a hell of a Lazio team, a team which would go on to win the 1999/2000 Scudetto. We took a deep dive into Sven's Lazio and the array of stars at his disposal - an all star car who he would lead to 7 trophies in the space of just a few years. Matt’s Choices Lazio's 199...

Inspired by Marc’s recent plans to attend Southampton v Blackpool, (which he didn't attend in the end) we decided for this week’s episode to tango the podcast and talk about the football clubs who bring vibrancy to our football stadiums by wearing orange shirts (and the various tangerine and amber derivatives of orange). Blackpool, Dundee United and Shimizu S-Pulse feature in this week’s pod...

For this week’s episode, we headed to South-East Asia and delved into the ASEAN Football Federation Championship AKA The Mitsubishi Electric Cup AKA The Sukuzi Cup. One of the region’s major football tournaments, it is a competition with some of world football’s less heralded nations, but nations with their own fascinating stories and quirks, as well as vibrant football cultures. Matt’s Choices Da...

In our first episode of 2023, we decided to revisit some of the topics from our 2022 episodes. Matt and Marc each chose 3 episode topics each and came up with one more discussion point to explore on those topics (it makes much sense in the episode). It also gave us the chance to introduce some of our back catalogue to any new listeners on board. We also discussed our favourite episodes so far and...

To round off the year it seemed fitting to look back over the World Cup that has just happened over the previous weeks. Joining us to talk about the controversies on and off the pitch and the genuine thrills on and off the pitch was Rhys Richards - the writer of Blood on the Crossbar: The Dictatorship's World Cup all about the 1978 World Cup; Argentina's first World Cup triumph. You can...

As the World Cup draws to a close, we look back on these stadiums that have hosted the biggest games in world football - from the forgotten stadium of 1966 to scene of Zinedine Zidane's infamous swansong. Matt's Choices 1. White City, London (1966) 2. Estadio Martínez Valero, Elche (1982) 3. Olympiastadion, Berlin (1974 & 2006) Marc's Choices 1. Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux (19...

On the eve of the 2022 World Cup, it was inevitable that Matt and Marc would eventually delve into the exploits - or lack of exploits - of their own country at the World Cup. Of course, Wales have not made a World Cup appearance since 1958, so we looked at qualification heartache, how a Welsh referee shaped world football in one of the most famous finals ever and paid respect to the current crop w...

Carrying on our World Cup theme, this week we decided to focus on those elite players who have achieved one of football's greatest goalscoring feats: being top goalscorer at a World Cup and winning the Golden Boot (yes, we know it used to be called the Golden Shoe). We discussed some of the greatest goalscorers in World Cup history, as well as talking about who we think might win the award in...

Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, we did our first World Cup-themed episode in the build-up to this winter's World Cup. Of course, as Welsh men, we wanted to delve into one of Wales' group mates and that led us to look at Iran - their previous World Cup exploits and a look ahead to what they could do at Qatar 2022. Joining us to discuss all things Team Melli was Arya Allahverdi of the Gol Bez...

On the week of the 2022 Copa Libertadores Final, we decided to explore South America's premier club competition and all the fun stories behind it - from Zico to 'Super Superclasicos'. We were delighted to be joined by groundhopper and all-round Copa Libertadores-lover David Wilcox to chat about the competition and his own experiences of watching football in Brazil and Argentina. Dav...

After Matt went to watch Málaga v FC Andorra last weekend, this week we decided to focus on those small countries around the world who, although small in stature, have their own big footballing tales to tell. Matt's Choices 1. FC Andorra 2. Football in Gibraltar 3. Vatican City football Marc's Choices 1. Faroes Islands 1-0 Austria in 1990 2. Mario Frick 3. Nicky Salapu and Next Goal Wins...

In this episode we looked at those players who have scored hatricks at the pinnacle of European football. Plus, we delve into a lot of Champions League trivia and talk about the joys of 'List of Champions League Hatricks' Wikipedia page. Matt's Choices 1. Mike Newell's hatrick for Blackburn v Rosenborg 2. Michael Owen's hatricks for Liverpool and Manchester United 3. Rober...

With Marc moving to Southampton, for this week's episode we decided to delve into Southampton FC. We explore Southampton's origins and how the club influenced Athletic Club in its nascent years, all the way through to Kevin Keegan's signing, Danny Wallace winning goal of the season and into the 21st century with Rickie Lambert helping to reignite the club in the lower leagues. Joini...

In the past month, we've seen a film star appear on a League of their Own and go viral for a mocked-up, yet still very rousing, prematch team talk and we've seen a documentary released about two Hollywood stars running a team in the 5th tier of the English football pyramid. So for this episode, we decided to focus on the times when Hollywood stars intervene in football and when the world...

After our summer hiatus, we are back! For our first topic of the new season, we looked at those hyped 'Wonderkids' who maybe didn't quite live up to the hype. You can find Matt on Twitter at @MattLostBoyo and Marc on Twitter at @MarcLostBoyo. And follow the podcast at @PlayedForKuwait. If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your pods from and tell a frie...

Ahead of Matt walking the world-renowned El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, we decided to do our own football-themed trail across El Camino. All of our choices this week have links to El Camino de Santiago and who better person to join us than Chris Pidgeon - a former pilgrim of El Camino de Santiago and fan of SD Ponferradina. Matt is completing the charity to raise money for Cudeca Cancer Care Ho...

We looked back at the first World Cup ever to be hosted in Asia, as well as being the first World Cup to ever be co-hosted. A World Cup synonymous with upsets, but was the quality on the pitch as bad as many have suggested? We explored why there were so many upsets and offer a defence of this World Cup, as well as discussing its legacy. Joining us to talk all things 2002 in South Korea and Japan w...

In our first World Cup-themed episode, we look at arguably the most controversial World Cup of them all: Argentina 78. It is a World Cup that is tied up in politics more than any other, but as well as discussing the social and political backdrop to the tournament, we did explore some of the football on the pitch too. We were delighted to be joined by Rhys Richards to discuss all things Argentina 7...

Viva Gareth Bale! Ahead of Wales' big World Cup Play-off game against Ukraine this weekend, we decided to dedicate a whole episode to all things Gareth Frank Bale to get us in the mood. Joining us to talk all things Bale was Welsh football fan Ralph Davies, who joined us for some joyous chat about a famous hatrick, famous performances and a host of famous freekicks from our favourite Welshman...

To the capital of Andalusia we headed this week, to explore one of the most celebrated cities in Europe: Seville. A city which is seen as an epicentre of Spanish culture, but a city which also has a rich football history and a rich football culture. We were joined by Football España Editor Alan Feehely, a current inhabitant of Seville, to talk all things Sevilla and Betis, as well as looking at a...

You always hear about the big ‘club v country’ debate, but what happens when a club team does play an international team? On this week’s pod, Matt and Marc explore the lesser seen games between club teams and international teams. We discuss the strange 1961 Charity Shield game, where the FA didn’t know what to do when Tottenham won the double, they got Tottenham to play 'England' instead...

After a little hiatus, we are back with episode 7 of Platini Played For Kuwait - and for this episode, we focused on the idea of those players who are burdened (although sometimes elevated) by their father’s names. We delved into the stories of those footballing sons who are forced to wear the surname of their legendary fathers on the back of their shirts, even though sometimes they choose to dism...

For this week's episode, we were joined by Cork City fan Alex O'Brien to talk about the League of Ireland. We discussed the grounds and the burgeoning fan culture in the LOI, some of the great names who have played in the LOI and the adventures of Irish teams in Europe over the years. Plus, we compared football in Ireland's league compared to football in the Welsh leagues. You can f...

On this week’s pod, we focused on football in the Czech Republic (and Czechoslovakia). We were joined by Ralph Davies, a Welshman in Brno, to talk about the greats of Czech football, the quirks and perks of Czech football grounds and his adventures around the Czech Republic with ‘The Blansko Klobása’. You can find Ralph on Twitter at @RalphDavies1 and The Blansko Klobasa at @BlanskoKlobasa. You ca...