About this episode

The episode covers the latest happenings at the 2026 World Cup, including a historic grudge match and various off-field stories.

It has been another scintillating week of action at the 2026 World Cup, where the final round of group games is about to get under way. Algeria are preparing to exact revenge against Austria for the ‘Disgrace of Gijón’ 44 years ago, in what may be the biggest grudge match of the tournament, while the Dutch royal family has been groundhopping to watch the Netherlands and Curaçao on the same day. Elsewhere, Hervé Renard and his crisp white shirts have failed to salvage Tunisia’s campaign, a marriage proposal went wrong at the Uruguay-Cape Verde match and Senegal have resorted to ordering takeaways to their team hotel in the absence of a proper chef. Plus: Borja Iglesias struggles to get into the Spain training base, an Iranian player has his celebrity aunt to thank for his call-up, German fan Freddy sparks a bidding war from North American airlines and Montevideo tops the all-time World Cup birthplace table. Chapters 00:00 – Intro 01:10 – Shocking scandals 11:18 – Famous fans 16:58 – Crazy call-ups 21:55 – Miscellaneous mayhem 26:09 – Bountiful birthplaces

People in this episode

Hosts: Lee Wingate, Paul Watson

Topics covered

• World Cup 2026
• grudge matches
• football scandals
• celebrity involvement
• team dynamics
• fan experiences

Keywords

• World Cup
• Algeria
• Austria
• Hervé Renard
• Gijón
• Netherlands
• Curaçao
• football scandals
• celebrity
• team dynamics

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Algeria, Austria, Gijón, Netherlands, Curaçao, Uruguay, Cape Verde, Senegal, Montevideo

More episodes of The Sweeper - A World Football Podcast

• World Cup 2026: Cape Verde’s tourism boost, Paraguay’s rags to riches keeper & an England fan manhunt · July 7, 2026 · 34 min
• World Cup 2026: Cape Verde’s Messi meeting, Doctor Congo in dreamland & the Habsburg Derby · June 30, 2026 · 37 min
• World Cup 2026: Balogun’s curious US citizenship, Peru’s mascot drug raid & Algeria’s sleep tax · June 16, 2026 · 32 min

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