The Sweeper - A World Football Podcast

The Sweeper crew have been going viral on social media recently. Paul Watson proposed a World Cup for the 32 worst-ranked countries in the world on Twitter – and it turns out a lot of people want to see it! Paul explains in Part 1 how it might work and who might win it, before the discussion turns to Pakistan and which countries might be the first to be eliminated from 2026 World Cup qualifying. I...

Sweeper co-hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson have (quite literally) gone to the ends of the earth for this episode, Part 1 of which kicks off with a trip to Antarctica - where a Belgian-backed micronation has launched its own football team to mark its 15th anniversary - and continues with a look at the representative from St. Pierre & Miquelon that travelled 4,000km to the French mainland to...

It's time for another episode of The Sweeper with co-hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson, who has penned the first chapter of his sequel to the hit book 'Up Pohnpei' - all about his adventures in Micronesian football. We talk all about it in Part 1 of this episode, before discussing the Indonesian team travelling in a tank and the Slovenian club president scoring goals in a desperate s...

Located at the intersection of Europe and North America, Greenland boasts the unique selling point of having the shortest season in world football - at one week long. The first part of the latest episode of 'The Sweeper' sees presenter Lee Wingate talk all about the 2023 Greenlandic Football Championship with co-host Paul Watson, who reflects on his own journey to Nuuk seven summers ago. P...

Who needs the European group stages? It's clearly all about the qualifying rounds - and with a major milestone for the Faroe Islands, notable results for Andorra and Malta, and a number of other captivating storylines across the continent, there's plenty for co-hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson to get stuck into on this episode of The Sweeper. In Part 1, Lee & Paul start off by talki...

The Sweeper crew have been to Liechtenstein and San Marino in recent months – but the 26,000km round-trip to Micronesia was by far our biggest off-the-beaten-track football adventure. Having now overcome the jetlag, Paul has the full story on the Pacific nation’s first-ever futsal tournament and its newly assembled Football Association. Part 1 sees us reflect on Paul’s past in Micronesia as the wo...

You might think there's not much going on in the football world at the height of summer - but there are in fact plenty of talking points to be explored by Sweeper co-hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson, who is recording the pod ahead of his mammoth 60-hour, 13,229km journey from London to Micronesia to watch the nation's first-ever futsal tournament. Part 1 is dedicated to our very favouri...

The club season might be over in 42 UEFA countries, but co-hosts Lee Wingate and Paul Watson have plenty of stand-out international headlines to work their way through on the latest episode of The Sweeper, which was edited by Tom Middler. The first segment of the pod is dedicated to Lee's trip to see San Marino, who extended their unwanted world-record winless run to 130 games against Kazakhst...

Lee Wingate and Paul Watson return with some more tales of football off the beaten track, including some live experiences on opposite sides of the globe, a quirky football geography segment and some of their favourite other stories from across the European continent. Lee kicks off the first segment with the remarkable story of Austrian club GAK, whose meteoric rise from the eighth to the first tie...

Pod duo Lee Wingate and Paul Watson are back with another carefully curated batch of weird and wonderful stories from across the football world, with Tom Middler returning to the virtual studio to produce the episode. Lee reflects on his trip to Liechtenstein’s Cup Final - where FC Vaduz unsurprisingly win a world-record 49th domestic cup - and his subsequent 50km hike through the hills to see all...

Co-hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson return to the virtual studio on their opposite sides of the Channel for another audio journey around the world of football in the space of 45 minutes, with extended Sweeper family member Tom Middler returning as producer. The football season may be winding down but that means it’s cup final time across the continent. Lee is preparing to travel to see the show...

With the majority of the European seasons nearing a conclusion and the 12 summer leagues now up and running, there is plenty for hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson to sink their teeth into on the latest edition of The Sweeper. Having revealed his tentative plans to become a sporting director at a sixth-division Italian club, Paul is reminded of his claim that he could beat Man Utd defender Axel T...

Hosts Lee Wingate & Paul Watson return to the virtual studio for another episode of The Sweeper - the show that goes further and wider than any other football podcast out there. Beer is the recurring theme in the opening segment, where Paul tells the story of the Polish referees that allegedly got drunk on a flight to Greece & Lee laughs at the Croatian coach who made his players train at...

The Sweeper crew return to review and reflect upon the standout stories from across the 55 UEFA countries & beyond in late March and early April. Paul looks back on his memorable trips to Alderney and San Marino, who are on some of the longest winless streaks in world football, while Lee waxes lyrical about Kazakhstan and shares two notable stories from Gibraltar. There's an excellent Apri...

In the latest instalment of The Sweeper, studio sidekicks Lee Wingate and Paul Watson cast the net far and wide to round up all the niche global football action in the first half of March. Paul reflects on his time as the world's youngest international manager (sort of) and the dormant plans to bring his remote adventure to the big screen, while Lee tries to get to grips with Europe's most bizarre...

Hosts Lee Wingate and Paul Watson round up all the quirky, random and bizarre news and stories from across the 55 UEFA countries and beyond in the second half of February. Unperturbed by the foiled coup in their country, Sheriff Tiraspol become the first Moldovan club to reach the last 16 of a European competition, while Lech Poznań end a 32-year wait for Poland, Belgian clubs enjoy some penalty s...

More of the European football stories you won't hear elsewhere from the first half of February - but this time there's a twist: The Sweeper goes global for the first time. Hosts Lee and Paul Watson discuss their most memorable football experiences in Enfield and Győr respectively, before switching the focus to the tragic earthquake in Türkiye and its impact on the Süper Lig. Japan legend Kazu Miur...

After 18 months in the podcast wilderness, The Sweeper is back - with the new-look team of Lee Wingate and Paul Watson getting their teeth stuck straight into the quirkiest stories European football has to offer. The first Solomon Islander to ever sign a professional contract in Europe pens a deal in Bosnia, while a club president in Malta contemplates resignation in order to register himself as a...