What if Football

Think of Scottish football teams, I dare you. You'd go Celtic, Rangers then you'd be forced to go to an Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs. But let's not forget about Dundee. And then you'd probably think of the Dundee United team of the 1980's that did so well in Europe. But no, we're not doing them today: we're covering the Original Lisbon Lions of DUNDEE FC: a pioneer for Scottish football. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – A History of Dundee F.C. 02:40 – The Original Lisbon Lions 17:10 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade there was another team flying the flag for Eastern European in the European Cup. Whilst they might be the less famous Belgrade team, it was in fact Partizan Belgrade who became the first European Cup finalist to hail from the East in an antidote to the rampant success that came from Madrid, Lisbon and Milan. This is how they did it. 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – History 04:30 – Eternal 12:45 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We owe quite a lot of how modern football is played down to one man. The pressing, the energy, the fitness, the team ethic: everything your favour managers here in the mid-20's espouse, the majority of which we can thank a long forgotten Ukrainian by the name of Valeriy Lobanovskyi. This is the story of the man that not only changed football in Ukraine but the world over. 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – 1975 08:10 – 1986 12:10 – 1988 15:25 – 1999 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The top table of European football is a closed shop now, we all know that. Getting your hands on the big-eared Champions League trophy is only the preserve of teams from the Big 5 European leagues that aren't from France. It wasn't always this way. This video charters the rise of the two teams who won the trophy from Eastern Europe: Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – 1986: Steaua Bucharest 11:55 – 1991: Red Star Belgrade 19:50 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wolverhampton Wanderers fans need some good news after this year. Unfortunately, I can't give you anything but sheer nostalgia. In this Issue of videos about some of European football's greatest ever teams, we couldn't ignore Wolves under the management of Stan Cullis. Perhaps the most influential European football team ever. 00:00 – Introduction 00:20 – A History 05:20 – Best in the World 19:25 – A Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Don Revie had made Leeds United the best football team in the country in the 1960s and 70s. Upon his departure, Leeds had ‘done a Leeds' multiple times since and after numerous financial disasters they were a generation out of the top flight. They needed somebody to come along and pick them out of the mire. So, they went Loco and it got back to the Premier League. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – Since Revie 07:00 – Loco Leeds 24:55 – The Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Don Revie built the foundations of Leeds United. They were back in the big time, they'd got their first shot across the bow with a title challenge and an FA Cup final and now they'd built up a reputation. Dirty Leeds were here, and they just might have been the best team in England. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – Back in the Big Time 09:05 – European Endeavour 25:15 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Regardless of where they might lie in the English football pyramid: Leeds United are a big football club. This is the objective truth no matter your club allegiances in the year of 2024. Rewind 70 years they were nothing. They weren't even as good as Huddersfield Town and even Bradford City had won an FA Cup. And that's in their West Yorkshire boundaries. Then Don Revie turned up: This is the BIRTH OF LEEDS. 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – The History 03:15 – The Making of Leeds 21:25 – The Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ipswich Town were champions in 1962 but that was quite literally consigned to what little black and white footage existed of it. The Tractor Boys were ploughing their own future back in Division 2, trying to find their place, wondering if they could ever get back to those famous days. And FROM THE FARM they made it back: this is Bobby Robson's Ipswich. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – After Ramsey 02:00 – Bobby Robson's Ipswich 22:20 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ipswich Town have been a breath of fresh air upon their Premier League return but it is widely accepted that they'll probably go down this season. Today we're covering Ipswich, but in a more innocent time, when they could get promoted to the top flight of English football and do some magical things. This is NOWHERE TO CHAMPIONS, The story of Alf Ramsey's Ipswich Town. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – History 02:45 – Alf Ramsey's Ipswich Town 19:50 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Berlin Wall fell 35 years ago this month. To celebrate, we've cobbled together a few stories from the history of East German football. First off: what better way than to celebrate East Germany's one appearance at the World Cup in 1974. Then, we'll take a look at each of the nation's three European finalists before the civil war between BFC Dynamo and Dynamo Dresden that took place in the 1980s. This is Behind the Wall: Tales from East Germany. 00:00 – Intro 00:30 – East Germany, 1974 05:00 – Magdeburg, 1974 09:45 – Carl Zeiss Jena, 1981 14:30 – Lokomotive Leipzig, 1987 18:15 – BFC Dynamo v Dynamo Dresden, 1979-1991 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Champions of Europe just drip off your tongue, don't they? Real Madrid from Spain, Milan from Italy, Manchester United from England and Bayern Munich from Germany. There's been a few you might not know of from lesser leagues but today's video is about THE Forgotten Champions: Hamburger SV, a team from a big nation who played against the best teams and were crowned Champions of Europe. 00:00 – Intro 00:30 – History of HSV 05:15 – The Glory Days 17:50 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We all love Der Klassiker, don't we? When the biggest German sides battle it out: Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach. Wait, you expected to see another Borussia didn't you? Whilst Dortmund and Bayern participate in the game known as the Klassiker now, it isn't the Original Klassiker. No chance, because in the 1970s Bayern's fiercest rivals were Gladbach, and they were competitive in a way that Dortmund have never been. 00:00 – Intro 00:30 – Before the Rivalry 04:10 – The Original Klassiker 19:45 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Red Bull gives you wings, as the marketing strapline goes. Certainly, Red Bull has had the ability to give wings to several non-descript football clubs you might never have heard of: from the MetroStars to Austria Salzburg and SSV Markranstadt. But have they given football the wings to fly away from tradition and community that it was founded on, to create something rotten to the core? 00:00 – Intro 00:30 – Salzburg 03:10 – New York 06:50 – Leipzig 11:05 – Rangnick 19:25 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There hasn't been a more unbelievable rise in modern day football from continental Europe. At the start of the 21st century, Union Berlin were broke, they were in the fourth tier and they needed their fans to re-build their stadiums. But since, they've got up, up and up right to the summit of the Bundesliga and have participated in every UEFA competition. This is the story of how they did it. 00:00 – Intro 00:30 – Eisern Union 04:30 – Schiesse! 12:20 – European Union 20:00 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Czechs have been successful at the top of international football: precisely four of them that made up their 1976 European Championship squad. Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, not so much. Except for two glorious summers that straddled the new millennium so delicately. This is the story of a new age of Czech football, of 1996 and 2004, the Outsiders of Europe's Twin Peaks. 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – A Successful History 04:20 – EURO 96 14:25 – EURO 2004 21:05 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Despite being known as the European Brazilians, Yugoslavian football had a habit of being nearly men. But in the late 1980s, when the country was at breaking point, they were blessed with the greatest crop of players ever. They won the world youth championship, almost won a World Cup and, for the majority of their players, got to taste European Cup success in the Final Days of Yugoslavia. 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – A Substantial History 05:00 – 1987 FIFA World Youth Championships 11:30 – 1990 FIFA World Cup 17:05 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the early 1990s, Croatia were one of a new band of nations admitted into international football after the dissolutions of multiple European republics. Whilst the rest of them stuttered and failed, Croatia prospered and became one of the great stories of the late 20th century. This is the story of the Birth of Croatia, in a football sense, and the rise of the Dark Horses of International Football: the great Croatian team of 1996 and 1998. 00:00 – Introduction 00:35 – A Violent History 05:25 – EURO 96 13:15 – 1998 FIFA World Cup 22:05 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wales, the red-headed stepchild of British football. They could never have the glory or expectation of England, they couldn't even lay claim to the history or moments of hope that belongs to Scotland. When England were winning the World Cup, when Scotland were going to major tournaments: Wales watched them on the telly. They spent a literal lifetime in the wilderness, between 1958 and 2016. This is a film about those times. 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – A Brief History 04:50 – 1976 10:20 – 1980s 17:45 – 1992 and 1994 22:30 – 2004 26:30 – The Generation of Qualifying Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1970 meant the most colourful spectacle on Earth: the FIFA World Cup held in Mexico. England were reigning champions, Brazil had a lad called Pele, Europe brought its heavyweights in Italy, West Germany and Soviet Union and the Latin countries of Mexico, Peru and Uruguay had homefield advantage. It remains one of the best World Cup's in history, a World in Colour. 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – Road to Mexico 12:15 – Group A 14:45 – Group B 16:40 – Group C 19:40 – Group D 22:20 – Knockouts 32:00 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They were never supposed to win the Champions League. They had a new manager in a foreign land, they lost Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard almost followed him. They were seconds away from elimination against Olympiakos, were up against it in Turin and in West London and that's before we get to Istanbul, where Six Minutes of Magic helped lift Liverpool's fifth European Cup. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – The Houllier Years 06:25 – A Miserable Season 11:10 – The Road to Istanbul 24:20 – Rafa's Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Boot Room was dead. Kenny Dalglish burned out. Now what was there for Liverpool? The Premier League was sneaking up on them, Europe was back and they needed to be in the mix to receive all the heightened riches, fame and glory that came with it. Instead, it was a decade to forget in terms of trophies. In terms of entertainment value? Well, it was spicy to say the least: this is Anfield Spice—and Liverpool in the 90s. 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – The Souness Years 05:40 – The Spice Boys 20:35 – The Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Any normal football club would've folded. A stadium disaster that left supporters dead, a European Cup final lost and the lineage of great coaches culled abruptly. 1985 was a formative year for Liverpool. They had been carried by the weight of the Boot Room, through Shankly, Paisley and Fagan and were now picking up the pieces of a near 30-year footballing odyssey. What next? This is The Last of the Boot Room. 00:00 – Introduction 00:35 – The Rise of the Boot Room 10:25 – The Dalglish Years 18:45 – Hillsborough 26:35 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Total Football was dead. The eighties killed all hope, with its wing-back system, sweepers in the backline and rampant hooliganism and stadium disaster. Football needed a bit of light injected back into it, and so too did Ajax. Johan Cruyff came back, and tried, but was quickly lured away by Barcelona again. Up step Louis van Gaal, a football war of philosophical ideas and Ajax's Total Recall to the top of the European game. 00:35 - Since Total Football 04:30 - Total Recall 19:55 - Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pele called football “The Beautiful Game”, Cruyff declared “winning is an important thing,” and Mourinho said “if you have a Ferrari and I have a small car, to beat you in a race I have to break your wheel or put sugar in your tank”. Let's forget about that last lunatic and focus more on the guy who said the second thing: Johan Cruyff. The leader of Total Football, the thoroughfare that explains the history of football tactics. This documentary hopes to explain the Totality of Total Football. 00:00 – Introduction 00:35 – How we reached Total Football 03:55 – How Ajax reached Total Football 07:20 – The Michels Foundation 17:10 – The Kovacs Success 24:35 – The Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Champions League—i.e. good football—is finally back, except UEFA have decided to be wet wipes and change the future of the sport with their Swiss Model format change. So, we're looking back instead and creating dozens of alternate histories from the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE! Let's gooooooooooo. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – What if Juventus beat Real Madrid in 1987? 02:05 – What if Luis Figo scored the penalty v Juventus in 2003? 04:20 – What if Juventus qualified for the Champions League in 1999? 06:10 – What if Juventus qualified from the Champions League group in 2000? 07:50 – What if Juventus qualified from the Champions League group in 2009? 09:35 – What if Juventus qualified from the Champions League group in 2013? 11:20 – What if Lazio qualified for the Champions League in 2002? 12:50 – What if Lazio qualified for the Champions League in 2011? 14:10 – What if Lazio qualified for the Champions League in 2018? 16:20 – What if Inter beat Atletico Madrid in 2024? 17:55 – What if Torino won the UEFA Cup in 1992? 19:40 – What if Napoli beat Spartak Moscow in 1990? 21:30 – What if Napoli qualified for the Champions League in 2012? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rome both is and isn't a football town. The people who live there might be crazy about the sport but the clubs who also live there aren't really that successful at the sport. For a brief window in the late 90s and early 2000s, that changed. This is the story about when Rome ruled Italy, in a football sense of course, but only too briefly. 00:00 – Introduction 00:30 – Lazio 08:35 – Roma 14:30 – 1999/2000 21:35 – 2000/2001 28:55 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Napoli were just existing, living day-to-day with the survival in the jungle known as Serie A in the 1980s. Up north unimaginable glories and successes that never got handed down to the little people in the south of a country harshly divided in football. All it took was one little genius to change Calcio forever. Napoli, the House That Maradona Built. 00:00 – Intro 00:30 – Napoli 04:45 – Diego Maradona 08:45 – Magica 18:45 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Italian football has a big three: Juventus, Milan and Inter. One's successful back home, the other more so abroad and the other… neither here nor there. This is Inter Milan, a team that can dominate but often prefers to keep its success brief, with long distances between. However, there was a moment—just one moment—when they might just have been the best Italy had ever seen. And it is when Germany controlled Calcio. 00:00 – Introduction 00:35 – Inter 05:40 – Trap 10:50 – The Germans 13:50 – Germany x Inter 23:25 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you were told to mention the greatest teams in the history of Italian football you'd throw in clubs like Juventus, Milan, Inter, maybe even a Napoli or one from the capital. You'd mention players like Baggio, Platini, Zidane, Maradona, Totti and the like. But they're not the best Calcio ever seen. This is, and it's the story of Il Grande Torino: the best football team you've never heard of. 00:00 – Intro 00:30 – A Brief History of Italian Football and Torino 03:15 – Erno Erbstein 06:35 – Lucchese: The Blueprint 09:20 – The False Start 16:35 – When Torino Became Grande 23:35 – Il Grande Torino 31:05 – Up On Superga Hill 36:25 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Think of Italian football and you probably think of Juventus first. They're the ones with the most Italian championships and their history is stacked with a litany of the world's greatest to ever play football. This is how they got to become Italy's biggest football club. Through decadence, dominance and disasters: this is how The Old Lady grew up. 00:00 – Intro 00:25 – The Beginning of Juventus 04:55 – The First Great Juventus team 08:45 – The Decline 10:20 – The Void Left by Superga 14:35 – Il Trio Magico 30:20 – Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The transfer window is full swing, the happiest time of the year of those donning yellow ties on Sky Sports News and them weirdos who live for the June, July and January as opposed to the actual football being played on the grass out there.   To celebrate: we've got a compilation tape that's busy asking ‘what if the transfer window went differently?'     00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – What if Bryan Robson signed for Juventus? 05:30 – What if Marco van Basten signed for Juventus? 08:55 – What if Marco van Basten stayed at Ajax? 10:45 – What if Marco van Basten signed for Barcelona? 13:25 – What if David Beckham signed for Barcelona? 16:20 – What if Robert Lewandowski signed for Real Madrid? 19:50 – What if Dragan Dzajic signed for Real Madrid? 23:30 – What if Dragan Dzajic signed for Inter Milan? 26:45 – What if Georgi Kinkladze signed for Inter Milan? 29:35 – What if Georgi Kinkladze signed for Liverpool? 32:00 – What if Kevin Keegan stayed at Liverpool? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

EURO 2024 may be over in real life, but the alternate realities from the tournament still stew away. Here is a compilation tape of 10 ‘what if?' scenarios from EURO 2024's knockout stage. 00:25 – What if Frenkie de Jong wasn't injured? 03:00 – What if Giorgio Scalvini wasn't injured? 06:20 – What if David Alaba wasn't injured? 08:45 – What if Joachim Andersen's goal was allowed against Germany? 10:00 – What if Niclas Fullkrug scored against Spain? 14:00 – What if Thibaut Courtois played? 16:15 – What if Kylian Mbappe didn't break his nose? 18:55 – What if Benjamin Sesko scored vs Portugal? 21:15 – What if Jude Bellingham didn't score against Slovakia? 24:15 – What if Marc Guehi scored vs Spain? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the first time in eight years, England are searching for a new manager after Gareth Southgate stopped just minutely short of winning the nation's first trophy once again. Naturally, for one of the most high-profile jobs in the sport, speculation is rampant about the man to succeed Southgate. So here are nine contenders that populate the mouths of supporters and the lists drawn up by the bookmakers. What if the following people were the next England manager? 00:00 – Introduction 00:45 – Eddie Howe 04:35 – Jurgen Klopp 06:35 – Thomas Tuchel 08:45 – Mauricio Pochettino 10:45 – Lee Carsley 12:50 – Steve Cooper 14:55 – Graham Potter 17:00 – Frank Lampard 18:55 – Steven Gerrard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

EURO 2024's fun and cuddly part is over. The group stages are gone, we've spent two weeks and a few dozen matches to eliminate eight teams. That doesn't mean the groups are over, however. It lives on in our hearts, our heads and through this: the ‘what if?' compilation tape of alternate scenarios from the EURO 2024 groups. 00:00 – Introduction 00:40 – What if Scotland received a penalty against Hungary? 01:30 – What if Scotland beat Switzerland? 04:15 – What if Niclas Fullkrug didn't score against Switzerland? 05:45 – What if Rey Manaj scored for Albania vs Italy? 07:40 – What if Croatia beat Albania? 09:15 – What if Slovenia beat Serbia? 11:15 – What if Luka Jovic was onside vs Denmark? 12:35 – What if Christoph Baumgartner scored vs France? 14:15 – What if Xavi Simons' goal vs France was allowed? 15:30 – What if Mike Maignan stayed on his line? 17:15 – What if Romelu Lukaku's goals were all allowed? 19:20 – What if Saba Lobzhanidze scored against Czech Republic? 20:40 – What if Kerem Akturkoglu scored against Portugal? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the European Championship circles back around, we get strapped to the same tired chairs and we're forced to watch the same pictures again and again. We see Bukayo Saka, Darius Vassell and Gareth Southgate missing penalties, the Icelandic thunderclap. The failures. From Dzajic in ‘68, Netzer four years later and Pirlo in 2012: England have been beaten by class. From fighting in the stands in Rome, Phil Neville giving away a penalty and Graham Taylor substituting Gary Lineker: England have also been embarrassed. They should have won it by now, shouldn't they? 00:00 – Introduction 00:45 – Paranoia: 1960-1976 05:35 – Problems: 1980-1992 11:30 – Promise: 1996-2004 17:10 – More Problems: 2008-2016 21:40 – More Promise: 2020s 25:15 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The reign of Spain only fell on the plain of the European continent. They had lost their global crown and were a shadow. Football had transformed drastically since Spain painted their pretty patterns all over Kyiv against Italy in the EURO 2012 final. High possession football was disposed of, in its place was gegenpressing. It ruled Europe, first at club level when Germany's biggest clubs made up the 2013 Champions League final. The following summer, Germany won their fourth World Cup. EURO 2016 was a turning point, where tactical ideologies would collide. And oh yeah: the competition was even bigger than ever. This is EURO 2016.   00:00 – Introduction 00:50 – Road to France 07:00 – Group A 08:55 – Group B 11:40 – Group C 13:50 – Group D 16:25 – Group E 19:45 – Group F 24:10 – Knockout Phase 33:35 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Four years earlier, we had witnessed a potential greatest ever European Championship team when Spain won their second title. They only went and improved upon that, by becoming one of the world's best when they claimed the Jules Rimet trophy in South Africa. Now, Spain were nailed on favourites to become one of the greatest teams ever assembled: club or international. Just who could feasibly stop them? Portugal were a one man band under Cristiano Ronaldo, but one hell of a band. Germany had the beginnings of an all-conquering team. Italy could be dangerous, Netherlands too—but the latter for your health. This is EURO 2012: and its greatest ever team. 00:00 – Introduction 00:45 – Road to Poland and Ukraine 09:35 – Group A 13:30 – Group B 18:15 – Group C 22:00 – Group D 25:50 – Knockout Stage 33:50 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The previous European Championship had been won by the rank outsiders in Greece. It felt like a partition between the old way football was played and a new age where anything was possible. For one, there was no British or Irish involvement for the first time in 24 years and the World Cup finalists Italy and France were already on the wane. A void needed to be filled in this new European Championship, this film on EURO 2008 attempts to detail just what happened. 00:00 – Introduction 00:35 – Road to Austria and Switzerland 08:50 – Group A 14:05 – Group B 18:20 – Group C 26:10 – Group D 29:35 – Knockout Stage 36:15 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2004 was the European Championship of the Golden Generation. The hosts Portugal and also Netherlands had two eras combining to create interesting dynamics, the esteemed nations of Germany, France and Italy experienced the final days of their empires, Spain were busy preparing to start their own empire and the plucky little English had a young squad seemingly destined for the very top. But would it make for a great spectacle? It was certainly UNBELIEVABLE, as the title suggests. 00:00 – Introduction 00:35 – Road to Portugal 12:00 – Group A 15:55 – Group B 20:05 – Group C 26:35 – Group D 33:15 – Knockout Stage 43:40 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

UEFA had piloted the 16-team games in England, naturally, and it had done okay. Nostalgia aside, it was a serviceable tournament but nothing to write home about from a neutral standpoint. Now though, modern football was really here. We had all your favourites: from Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo to Raul and Francesco Totti. It was the new millennium, optimism was in the air, two countries spread the load of what had finally become a true festival of football as UEFA try to paint it in their sickly colours. This is EURO 2000: the greatest ever? 00:00 – Introduction 00:40 – Road to Belgium and Netherlands 14:00 – Group A 19:55 – Group B 23:15 – Group C 30:00 – Group D 35:35 – Knockout Stages 51:30 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Modern football was here. The Premier League and Champions League were in full voice, the world game had been taken to the States and produced the last 24-team World Cup to grand acclaim. The ball was now in UEFA's court, and they were determined to one-up FIFA. They brought the game back to its roots and set about making the Euros bigger and grander than ever. Would the tournament that is consistently peppered onto the screens of every British television every two years live up to the rose-tinted spectacles that has reigned unabated for the past quarter century? This EURO 96: The Nostalgia Euros. 00:00 – Introduction 00:45 – Road to England 09:00 – Group A 15:35 – Group B 19:40 – Group C 24:10 – Group D 27:20 – Knockout Stage 40:10 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Italia '90 was the cornerstone for so many football fan. The sport was a completely different ball game as the summer of 1992 turned up with the Champions League's star ball under one arm and the Premier League lion under the other arm. In this rapidly changing world of football, would the European Championships be able to co-exist with the same drama and the same quality? This film, The Wildcard Euros, hopes to explain the sheer chaos that was EURO 92. 00:00 – Introduction 00:35 – Road to Sweden 09:30 – A 16:20 – B 21:50 – Knockouts 26:55 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Seemingly, the only way was down for UEFA, after they had staged the immaculate and perhaps greatest ever European Championships four years prior in 1988. This was a gloomy time for the European game, that lived in the day-to-day strife of hooliganism and still existed under the cloud of the Heysel disaster. Remaining within the confines of eight teams, there was probably the fear that having 25% of the tournament's field polluted with teams from the British Isles might soil the good name the competition had developed. Could EURO '88 live up to the hype? 00:00 – Introduction 00:45 – Road to West Germany 09:20 – Group A 15:30 – Group B 21:55 – Knockout Stage 31:10 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Euros was on its deathbed. It seems hard to believe now, what with the incessant wall-to-wall coverage, build-up, hype and money that goes into the Euros these days. However, UEFA had just suffered humiliation in staging a cagey, defensive Jose Mourinho wet dream of a tournament in Italy. They desperately needed to re-shape the image of the Euros, or risk its premature death. This is the story of EURO 1984. 00:00 – Introduction 00:40 – Road to France 09:45 – A 14:25 – B 21:50 – Knockouts 30:35 – Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

UEFA had their tails up. They'd overseen quite possibly one of the greatest football tournaments ever bequeathed to the sport and now they believed they could make the competition even better by expanding the field. It made sense: there were more than four elite countries in European football, and a more inclusive game surely made for a better one. Or so UEFA thought. What they actually did was nearly kill the competition before it ever truly got going. 00:00 – Introduction 00:35 – Road to Italia 09:30 – A 12:50 – B 17:50 – Knockouts 20:45 – In Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The European Championship is a monster of a competition. Second only to the World Cup and Champions League, every four years 24 nations come together to decide who will become the best in Europe. Billions watch, millions cram into the stadia. But it wasn't always this way. In today's film we remember the forgotten Euros, when it was a two-bit operation featuring four teams across a long weekend. This is the humble beginnings of the European Championships. 00:00 - Introduction 00:30 - Formation 02:40 - EURO 1960 07:35 - EURO 1964 12:40 - EURO 1968 17:45 - EURO 1972 22:40 - EURO 1976 33:00 - Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This summer, the Euros will of course be held in Germany after that batshit idea 3 years ago to still stage it continent-wide in the midst of a pandemic. The hosting rights are supposed to matter greatly over what happens at an international football tournament. But does it really? We have changed the hosts for every European Championship since 1980 to get down to the truth. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – 1980 03:15 – 1984 05:45 – 1988 08:30 – 1992 11:15 – 1996 13:40 – 2000 16:05 – 2004 21:20 – 2008 32:50 – 2012 42:40 – 2016 47:30 – 2020 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a compilation tape of alternate scenarios previously uploaded onto our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYmeDpDJnYPN2AEdBIy3Kw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the most wonderful time of year. Forget Christmas, it's play-off season in the EFL and National League: aka the most dramatic leagues in world football adding a bit of crack to an already coked up competition. It's manic enough: but here we are changing it and creating alternate universes from all tiers 2 through 5. 00:00 – Introduction 00:25 – National League 02:55 – League Two 10:05 – League One 15:00 – Championship Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Curtain's closing on another season. Did your team do well? Or are they staring the abyss in the face? Will they go up to the steps of a grand stadium and collect some silver? I don't care. I'll ruin those stories in a few years, they're safe for today because today we've got an end of season new montage of ‘what if?' scenarios to thumb through. We've got relegations, promotions, league wins, play-off wins. All that never were, but can be, in our little slice of alternate history today. Get down. This is a compilation tape of alternate scenarios previously uploaded onto our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYmeDpDJnYPN2AEdBIy3Kw 00:45 – What if Sheffield Wednesday won the play-offs in 2016? 08:40 – What if Norwich City stayed up in 2005? 10:50 – What if Southampton stayed up in 2005? 13:10 – What if Southampton qualified for the Europa League in 2015? 16:00 – What if Crystal Palace stayed up in 2005? 18:00 – What if Birmingham City stayed up in 2006? 21:20 – What if Birmingham City stayed up in 2011? 26:05 – What if Bolton stayed up in 1998? 28:30 – What if Blackburn qualified for the UEFA Cup in 2007? 33:30 – What if Stoke stayed up in 2018? 37:05 – What if Nottingham Forest weren't promoted in 1977? 40:45 – What if Middlesbrough stayed up in 2009? 43:10 – What if Huddersfield got relegated in 2018? 46:40 – What if Sevilla qualified for the Champions League in 2006? 49:45 – What if Deportivo qualified for the Champions League in 1999? 54:50 – What if Genoa qualified for the Champions League in 2009? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices