The Football Heritage Podcast

121. The World Cup and Resistance We're joined by author and journalist Simon Kuper to cover the wide-ranging subject of resistance at the World Cup. The World Cup is many things. In the same way that the tournament is often used by regimes and governments for legitimisation and to sportswash, the World Cup also has a strong heritage of protest and resistance. There is no greater platform to s...

120. Uruguay, 1930: The Origins of the World Cup We're joined by Alvaro Perez to talk about the origins of the World Cup and the role Uruguay played in making the tournament a success. We also discuss Uruguay's heritage within the World Cup as the first World champions and how this influences Uruguay's football culture today. Subscribe to The Footbal Heritage Extra on Patreon for £3 pe...

119. Latinx Activism at USA 1994We're joined by Professor Celso Thomas Castilho to talk about Latin American activism during the 1994 World Cup in the United States, a response to a series of aggressive police crackdowns in Latinx communities who were celebrating victories for their respective national teams. With Celso's latest NACLA article in mind, we compare this activism with response...

118. La Albiceleste: : A History of the Argentina National Team We're joined by Dr. Mark Orton to cover the history of la Albiceleste - The Argentina Men's National Football Team. Since playing their first ever match against Uruguay in 1902, the Argentina National Team have went from strength to strength, but with some noticeable peaks and troughs in between. We speak about the history of...

117. Scotland at the World Cup We're joined by Colin Whelan and Steve Herbert to talk about Scotland's historic performances at the World Cup, our predicitions for how Scotland will perform this campaign, and our all-time best Scotland squad based on Colin's latest book, Super Squad Scotland. It's not all doom and gloom! Subscribe to The Footbal Heritage Extra on Patreon for £3 per...

116. Our World Cup For the first podcast in our World Cup 2026 content programme, we're joined by film director and producer Thor Logasson to talk about his upcoming project Greetings from the World Cup. This mini-series aims to speak with diaspora communities in New York to shine a light on their World Cup experiences. We talk about pronounced national identity in diaspora communities and how...

115. Football and Revolution: Argentina, 2001 We're joined by author, anti-fascist and dedicated anarchist Tomas Rothaus to talk about the 2001 uprising in Argentina and Racing Club's fist title in 35 years - all which happened within three days of each other. In Tomas' words, these few days contained decades. He recounts his stories and experiences from the days surrounding the revolu...

114. Caernarfon Town We're joined by media director Andrew Walton, club president John Watkins and club chairman Paul Evans to cover the story of Welsh Cup winners Caernarfon Town. As well as football, Caernarfon Town are steeped in Welsh heritage and mythology. The town is predominantly Welsh speaking, and a recent club re-brand saw them include elements from the story of Owain Glyndŵr in the...

113. Mining, Migration and Football: Soccer in Illinois Coalfields We're joined by Society of American Soccer History and archivist Chuck Carlson to talk about soccer in the coalfields of Illinois - the catalyst for the early development of football in the state. We discuss the importance of migration, industry and trade unionism in the development of football in Illinois, the difficulties of...

112. Save The Caps We're joined by Ciarán Nicoll, president and secretary of the Vancouver Southsiders supporters group, to talk about the Save the Caps campaign and the recent acceleration of problems surrounding the Vancouver Whitecaps. Stemming from problems surrounding stadium ownership, Vancouver Whitecaps were put up for sale last year. Prospecitve local buyers did not feel that the oppo...

111. Football Pilgrims We're joined by Richard Popple, founder and creator of Football Pilgrims, an app designed for players to explore the history and heritage of football clubs in real life. We talk about Richard's inspiration behind the app, the importance of place theory in football and why, as supporters, we seek connection to our club despite results on the pitch. About Us Website fo...

110. Firelands United We're joined by Andrew Chwalik, founder of Firelands United - a new club competing in Northern Ohio with grand ambitions. Firelands is a unique place within Ohio. With roots stretching back to the American Revolutionary War, the region has always had a distinct local identity compared with the rest of the state and those it borders. Recognising the need for high-level, or...

109. C.D. Águila We're joined by Steven Torres and journalist Rodrigo Arias to talk about the history, heritage and identity of one of El Salvador's biggest football clubs - C.D. Águila. Founded in 1926, C.D. Águila became the representative football club of eastern El Salvador and the people who call that region home. We cover the founding of the club, their golden era when they won the C...

108. Nairn County We're joined by Board Member Michael Bochel and Director of Football Graeme Macleod to talk about Nairn County FC, one of the most exciting clubs in Scottish football. Founded in 1909, Nairn County have been a staple of Highland League football since they entered in 1914, winning it once in 1975-76. The club are central to the idyllic town of Nairn, situated next to the Moray...

107. Narcoball: Football in Pablo Escobar's Colombia We're joined by author David Arrowsmith to talk about the history of football in Pablo Escobar's Colombia - an era known as Narcoball. Throughout his life, Pablo Escobar had a deep love for football, especially the team he supported, Atlético Nacional. However, he also knew the power that it could bring him, and at his peak as a Narc...

106. Utah, Soccer and the Third Reich We're joined by Brock Mildon to talk about the history of organised soccer in Utah and its origins in Nazi Germany. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Helmuth Hübener, was active in the resistance against the Nazi's in Hamburg, and became the youngest person executed for being a member of the resistance against Nazism. Arthur...

105. The Arsenal Women's Archive We're joined by Adam Salter, founder and curator of the Arsenal Women's Archive, to cover the history of England's most successful women's club and the efforts he makes to ensure the history of the club is preserved. Creating archives of women's football has always been difficult due to the ban on women playing football which existed for 50...

104. Football Tourists We're joined by Hijab Shah, a PhD student from the University of St. Andrews, to talk about the 'issue' of 'football tourists' and the connotations behind using those two words. Though it may seem and be innocent, anger often directed at so-called 'football tourists' is a facade for racism and xenophobia. We unpack all the issues surrounding probl...

103. Fan Culture in Japan We're joined by freelance journalist Dan Orlowitz and Yokohama F. Marinos stalwart Stuart Woodward to talk about the vibrant, passionate and unique supporter culture in Japan. Outside of watching Japan supporters at the World Cup, football fans in Europe and elsewhere have likely saw little of the fervent football culture sweeping Japan. We take a whiste stop tour aro...

102. Saving the Accies We're joined by Rob Edwards, founder and CEO of Morley Sports Management and the new owner of Hamilton Academical Football Club. Hamilton Accies and their supporters have been through the ringer over the last few years. The way the club was ran by the previous ownership groups was amateurish, and little infrastructure was put in place to show that the club was in any way...

101. Ultras: A History In this podcast, we're joined by Chris Lee from Outside Write and Alex Wilson, a Board Member of the Dulwich Hamlet Supporters' Trust, to talk about the past, present and future of Ultras and the culture surrounding them. From the origin of fanatic supporters to the alternative organised fan movements we see today, Ultras culture is a fluid and evolving phenomenon wh...

100. Inside Hibs: Heritage and Brand We're back with our first podcast of 2026. More importantly, we're back with our 100th podcast episode. We're so happy we've made it this far, and we're equally as grateful for the support and love our listeners have shown us. This podcast is for you. On our 100th podcast episode, we're joined by Edd Norval alongside Greg McEwan, former...

99. The Kernow Football Alliance For our last podcast of 2025, we're joined by co-founder of the Kernow Football Alliance, Jason Heaton. Like other Celtic Nations who have formed national teams, Kernow are the representative national team of Cornwall. Sadly though, unlike Alba, Ellan Vannin or other language-centred nations, Kernow aren't able to use their language as a central philosophy...

98. More Than A Shirt We're joined by author and journalist Joey D'Urso to talk about the relationship between football kits, power, marketing and geopolitics through the lens of his recently published book. With huge commercial value and unlimited marketing opportunities, football kits have become the most popular way for brands to gain exposure to new audiences and demographics. But foot...

97. União da Madeira We're joined by Director of Football André Encarnacao to talk about the life of phoenix club União da Bola Futebol Clube following the demise of their predecessor in 2021, C.F. União. Though both clubs are different in name and philosophy, the culture, legacy and heritage of C.F. União is felt through the continuation of União da Madeira - a name used to refer to any itera...