A world football podcast announces collaboration with FIFA+ | London Daily News

The Sweeper, a podcast hosted by football aficionados Lee Wingate and Paul Watson, explores the wonderful world of football across FIFA’s 211 member states and beyond. Each fortnight the pair of friends round up the global football headlines fans won’t hear elsewhere with a touch of geography, politics, history, culture and food, plus a healthy dose of humour.

The Sweeper has garnered a loyal following of football fanatics who have helped them to achieve an impressive five star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify based on over 700 reviews.

The support from global digital platform  FIFA+ is the next step on the show’s steady ascent, and highlights the continued commitment from FIFA to grow the game globally, at every level.

FIFA+ offers free access to live matches, highlights, exclusive documentaries, and archived football content. Launched in 2022, FIFA+ continues to expand, giving football fans worldwide unprecedented access to the sport.

Lee Wingate is a football translator by trade, he has worked for Germany’s top clubs and interpreted at a Champions League final. He has appeared on The Totally Football Show, Sky Sports, BBC Sport and Talksport.

Speaking on the collaboration, Lee said:

“Everybody in the football world knows FIFA and so when FIFA+ reached out to us to propose a collaboration, it was a podcasting dream come true. With its broad range of countries, competitions and leagues, the FIFA+ streaming platform really is the perfect fit for The Sweeper and we look forward to being able to offer our listeners and followers a free and easily accessible way to watch the matches we are talking about live and in top quality.”

Lee and co-host Paul Watson bonded over their shared love of Greenlandic football and their interest in the niche leagues. Through the podcast, the pair take listeners around the world to explore football leagues and competitions in destinations listeners might not get around to themselves.

From Micronesia to Liechtenstein, Gibraltar to San Marino, the lads pull back the curtain to reveal the nuances of these football communities around the globe. The show’s international appeal is evidenced by its listenership which spans 183 countries, states and territories worldwide.

Paul Watson is the former youngest football manager in the world of Micronesian island team Pohnpei and the author of a book about his adventures called Up Pohnpei. He also coached and co-owned a Mongolian Premier League team. He is a regular on TalkSport and Guardian Football Weekly and writes for Four Four Two and ESPN.

He added:

“The end of the year will be an exciting time with our usual focus on a broad range of places that often slip under the radar. From Vietnam to the Vatican City we will be covering it all and now so many of the games we talk about will be on FIFA+ for our listeners to check out. This past weekend alone our listeners joined us to watch games in Liberia, Mauritania, Bhutan and Lithuania – a real world tour!”

Listen to the entire back catalogue of ‘The Sweeper – A World Football Podcast’ on all major podcast platforms. For further details, and to listen, visit here.