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I've said something like this before: I believe the means of global soccer production should be controlled by fans, players and the community the club is in, collectively or cooperatively, and not by firms and companies based half a world away from the clubs in question. So, this podcast is not a natural avenue for an American multi-club owner of European clubs to share his story.
In an exception to that pattern, here is a conversation with Matt Rizzetta, an owner of - precisely - a company (named North Sixth Group, in New York) that controls clubs half a world away. Most of our conversation looks behind the scenes of his involvement in Campobasso FC, in Italy's 3rd league, from questions over how investors find clubs in the first place to whether he could rename the club. While I believe I went in with a level of empathy, I also asked perhaps the most critical questions I’ve asked a guest yet, and what resulted was an interesting and respectful conversation.

And: you can WIN a copy of David Kilpatrick's lovely short book 95 Theses on the reformation of Football. I'll tell you how a few minutes into the episode.

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Campobasso FC official website
Brooklyn FC and Project Underdog's website
Matt Rizzetta on Instagram
Forbes Magazine on Campobasso's Hollywood investors and on Campobasso's promotion

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

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Martin Luther (not the King) nailed 95 protest theses against the Christian church of his day to a church door in Germany on October 31st 1517. And Protestants , properly understood, have been protesting ever since. As we near "Reformation Day" again, David Kilpatrick, a Professor of English and Sports Managment, channels that spirit of protest to the world of soccer. His playful, bold and short book "95 Theses on the Reformation of Football: Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Glocal Football Governance" stands in a strong tradition of critical and intelligent football literature on this podcast. A listener himself, David and I roamed anywhere between 16th century Germany, the New York Cosmos, youth soccer and the mess that is FIFA.

In this longer episode before a Fall break, you will also get an update from Wayne (of the Red Bull and Leeds United episode 4 weeks ago) on the anointing of Jürgen Klopp as the head of Red Bull's soccer empire, and a critique of what is happening (or not) with the Chicago Red Stars.

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

David Kilpatrick's book

Mercy University's portrait of the book

David on his website and x/twitter

"Chicago Stars FC" launches new crest and explains "it's significance"

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

NEW: send me a text message! (I'd love to hear your thoughts - texts get to me anonymously, without charge or signup)

Today, we are taking a Fall break trip to Vallecas, a working class neighborhood in the Spanish capital Madrid. La Liga - the Spanish first league - holds global appeal chiefly due to its two dominators and their massive global following. However, there are wonderful and many layered stories of politics, local pride, past glories and regional conflict below that shiny surface. Rayo Vallecano, the Lightining Bolt of Vallecas, represent a particularly interesting one. Currently a very good 8th in La Liga, the club normally yo-yos between 1st and 2nd and sometimes the 3rd league, but has been the inspiration for more than a few good Ska and punk songs from their neighborhood. In other words, there are no really great on the field moments here, but plenty off the field. And Paul Reidy is the perfect person to explain - to English speakers - the appeal of this strange 3rd club in Madrid that doesn’t really want to be a club for the whole city.

HELPFUL LINKS FOPR TODAY'S EPISODE:

Paul on X/twitter

Playlist of Rayo fan chants on Deezer

Ska-P - “Como un Rayo” (Youtube video of a live performance)

Ska-P - “Rayo Vallecano” (Youtube video)

“This is Rayo Vallecano,” 9 minutes documentary from COPA90

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

NEW: send me a text message! (I'd love to hear your thoughts - texts get to me anonymously, without charge or signup)

The McDonald’s on Elland Road in Leeds, near the stadium of Leeds United, is, apparently, the only McDonald’s there is that has removed any element with the color red. Because Red, that is Manchester United, the rose of Lancaster in the badge of Manchester City. And roses, as well as soccer shirts, in Yorkshire are white… except until this Summer, when two red bulls, the logo of an Austrian energy drink, gallopped onto that white jersey, as the new main sponsor.

I have a personal past here: I was in Austria when the same energy drink bought and erased Austria Salzburg, in the Austrian Bundeliga, in 2005. Red Bull, almost killed the old Austria Salzburg then. We now have Red Bull branded and/or owned clubs all over the world. The question in Leeds, then, is not about the color on a jersey, but rather "are we next in the now almost 20 year old history of Red Bull turning football clubs into promo and marketing vehicles?"

Maybe. And maybe not. Brace for a little history lesson from me about what happened there, 20 years ago, but most of all look forward to Adam Willerton from the Leeds United Supporters Trust, the largest independent fan organization that related supporters and club heritage interests to the club, as well as Wayne Gamble who also works with the trust and is a fan of Leeds United - and Austria Salzburg.

The soundtrack to today is Luke Haines' wonderful "Leeds United," about when the devil did indeed come to Yorkshire. Here are the lyrics.

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Leeds United Supporters Trust

LUST statement on Red Bull, 31st May 2024

The Yorkshire Evening Post from the same day covers the statement and "maximum resistance" from supporters

The Leeds Press giving voice to the "don't worry about Red Bull" camp recently

Nancy Froston from The Athletic/The New York Times on "Why Red Bull Bought Sports Teams - and the Impact on Them" a few da

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

NEW: send me a text message! (I'd love to hear your thoughts - texts get to me anonymously, without charge or signup)

In a bit of a parallel episode to Episode 24 ("The Footballer who Defied the Nazis? The Myth of Matthias Sindelar"), this is the story of Hakoach Vienna. A child of central European Jewish emancipation movements and of the "muscular religion" fashionable at the time, the Jewish club became Austria's first professional champion in 1925, subsequently lost its important players to North American clubs, was home to Bela Guttman in Austria, and was shut down 3 days after the Anschluss of Austria to Germany. It lives on in at least 3 clubs, on 3 continents, one of them a re-formed Hakoah, in Vienna itself.

Marcus Patka is here to tell this story. A historian and curator at the Jewish Museum of Vienna, he created and curates the Hakoah collection from the interwar years at the Museum.

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

William D. Bowman, "Hakoah Vienna and the International Nature of Interwar Austrian Sports," Central European History 44 (2011), 642–668.

"West Ham 0-5 Hakoah: How an All-Jewish Team Defeated the English at their own Game, Conquered Austrian Soccer and Defied the Nazis," An Interview with Michael Lower (University of Minnesota)

"How a 1926 soccer match divided the St. Louis Jewish Community," STL Jewish Light, August 3 2023

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

NEW: send me a text message! (I'd love to hear your thoughts - texts get to me anonymously, without charge or signup)

To critique the state of our world, our communities, to critique what is wrong with soccer in late stage capitalism is one thing. It actually isn’t a hard thing. But to dream, think and even plan for a better world, and a better football, that is something different entirely. Alina Schwermer, a young and extremely talented German journalist, has done just that, on 450 pages, in her book Futopia: Ideas for a Better Footballing World. It’s a book about football, and about utopias. About the game and how we can reimagine it, but also about a different, more vibrant and just world. We discuss new rulebooks, a critique of competition and beauty as we now know it, a new financial order for the sport, and some DIY ideas for your local context.

Tune in and, I promise, you will be rewarded and your imagination will be stretched. And you can tell your friends afterwards that you are well ahead of the curve by having listened into this book, because it isn’t translated into English. Not yet.

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Alina Schwermer, Futopia (book page and interview in German with the publisher, Werkstatt Verlag)

Futopia on Twitter/X @FussballUtopien

Futopia for purchase in the U.S.

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

NEW: send me a text message! (I'd love to hear your thoughts - texts get to me anonymously, without charge or signup)

Gent in Belgium. Rasgrad in Bulgaria. Mostar in Bosnia. Borås in Sweden. Tiraspol in, well, Moldova. Or Differdange in Luxemburg

If you know where these places are, have some sense of what it looks like there, what the vibe is, perhaps it is because of the early UEFA club competitions' qualifying rounds. It is for me. If it isn't for you yet, it's time it was. I know I’ve often said in the past this podcast is intended to look beyond the big leagues, beyond stars and their goals, but never have we cast the ned so deeply and widely as today. Lee Wingate is the Visiting Professor today, an Englishman who lives in Vienna. He shares with us his deep knowledge of the faraway corners of European football, corners that are on full display during these weeks, because it’s the best season of them all: the qualifying rounds for the European club tournaments are on. How these tournaments work, what countries, teams or scenic grounds to watch out for - listen in.

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

The Sweeper

UEFA Europa League 2024/25

UEFA Conference League 2024/25

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/

NEW: send me a text message! (I'd love to hear your thoughts - texts get to me anonymously, without charge or signup)

If you follow a club that plays in the English Premier League, you may have gotten wind of it: over the Summer, quite a few clubs increased their season ticket prices, and phased out - or partially phased out - discounted tickets for kids and seniors, so called concession tickets. And for once, English fans seem to get organized and cooperative in resistance. Wolverhampton, Tottenham and West Ham in particular are the hotspots right now, but there are others, and they are talking. If the fans do this right, you will witness some public action at the start of the season. And good on them. Why does this matter, what vision are the clubs following, and can English fans pull off a successful protest against the robberbaron capitalism of modern soccer like German fans did in Spring? Here to tell us are two fans who are in the trenches of this fight at West Ham United: Andy, from Hammers United, who was with us in season 1 already, and Alex from the campaign #saveourconcessions.

LINKS TO THIS EPISODE:

#saveourconcessions on X/twitter

The petition, Hammers United

Alex' viral video

Please leave a quick voicemail with any feedback, corrections, suggestions - or just greetings - HERE. Or comment via Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook.

If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please

• Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
• Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.

Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind

Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/