The Sweeper - A World Football Podcast20 Sep 2023

The Antarctic micronation with a football team, island time in the Coupe de France & the Costa Rican mascot race

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 play a cup tie.

The unique away day theme continues in Part 2 as we look at quirky geographical features that some fans have to navigate to get to away games: there's an undersea roundabout in the Faroe Islands, a bridge that bypasses Bosnia on the Adriatic Coast and a Swiss stadium that requires two cable cars to reach. We then talk about the La Liga squad that missed their flight and read some more of your e-mails about former footballers who have gone into politics.

It's all about stupid stories in Part 3. The annual Costa Rican mascot race ends in victory for Lula the cow - or is it Gary? - and a wealthy businessman pays £17,500 for his 22-year-old son to get 10 minutes of game time in the Czech third tier. Finally, Paul recaps a memorable bonus podcast and we look ahead to some exciting stories from Wales and the USA for next time.

RUNNING ORDER:

Part 1 - The Antarctic micronation with a football team & island time in the Coupe de France (00:50)

Part 2 - Unusual European away days, missed flights in La Liga & former footballers who have gone into politics (17:03)

Part 3 - The epic Costa Rican mascot race & the Czech father who paid big money for his son to play (31:52)

The Costa Rican mascot race:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-uUWC-_RVI

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