Andorran adventures: Cross border clubs, squirrel costumes & micro-state uproar

About this episode

This episode explores the unique football culture of Andorra, including its foreign player dominance and recent UEFA changes.

We have come to a tiny landlocked country where nine out of 10 footballers are foreigners. Welcome to beautiful Andorra – a micro-state home to a football scene brimming with curiosities and quirks. In this episode, we’re unpacking the madness: Why are there virtually no Andorrans in the local Primera Divisió? How did Gerard Piqué’s FC Andorra move over the border to play in Spain’s La Liga 2? And why on earth do fans of UE Santa Coloma dress up as squirrels? Plus: UEFA has totally revamped qualification for international competitions with a tiered Swiss-style system – and the continent's smaller nations are up in arms about it. Buy ‘Around The World In 80 Clubs’: ⁠www.amazon.co.uk/Around-World-80-Clubs-Wonderful/dp/1399637886 Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 01:26 – FC Andorra: The history 03:15 – FC Andorra: Piqué & Ceuta 12:50 – The Copa Constitució final 17:03 – No homegrown players 24:10 – The micro-state ranking list 30:08 – UEFA’s qualification revamp 31:25 – A message from the minnows

People in this episode

Hosts: Lee Wingate, Paul Watson

Topics covered

• Andorran football
• foreign players
• FC Andorra
• UE Santa Coloma
• UEFA qualification
• micro-states
• football curiosities

Keywords

• Andorra
• football
• foreign players
• FC Andorra
• UE Santa Coloma
• UEFA
• Copa Constitució
• micro-state

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: FC Andorra, UE Santa Coloma

Books & works: Around The World In 80 Clubs

Places: Andorra, Spain

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