Libero

SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Sign up at liberopodcast.com.

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What’s happened with the tickets for this summer is an absolute scandal but soaring prices is a trend that has an impact way beyond the World Cup. The exploitation of the match-going fan have seen tickets become tradable assets for the market to set the price for, all the while diminishing the value of the experience that is being put in the shop window. Rory Smith, Tariq Panja and Jonathan Wilson try to figure out how this been allowed to happen, as well as the long-term implications for football.

P1: (05:42)

P2: (35:54)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com.

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From peace prizes to golden baubles, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has made it his mission to shower the US president in praise and treasure, while in the process inserting himself into Donald Trump’s inner circle. As Trump directs a bombing campaign on Iran, John Brewin, Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja ask whether Infantino’s personal ambitions risk irreparable harm to the beauty of the World Cup and football itself?

P1: (00:28)

P2: (33:15)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

Email in via [email protected]

Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod

Follow us on X @podcast_libero

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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We are still in the soft launch phase of ⁠SC Libero⁠, but getting on the bandwagon early will give you the chance to lock-in a pay-what-you-want price for an annual subscription until we figure out exactly what perks we give to members. Take advantage of us now at ⁠liberopodcast.com⁠.

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Thomas Tuchel was appointed to the England job with one clear aim: to win the 2026 World Cup.

The question on today’s episode, with Jack Pitt-Brooke, Jonathan Wilson and John Brewin, is whether he is on the right track.

Tuchel’s England were immaculate in qualifying but they lack depth, as they showed against Uruguay on Friday, and are as dependent on Harry Kane as ever. So can he do what Gareth Southgate could not? And what are the differences between the approach of the two men?

P1: (09:37)

P2: (27:51)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

Email in via [email protected]

Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod

Follow us on X @podcast_libero

Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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Join SC Libero! Our members’ only offering is now live, in a soft way. We're starting you off with ad-free episodes, but a host of other benefits are in what we call 'the pipeline'. Sign up now at liberopodcast.com and you get to pay what you want, because we’re suckers.

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All of football’s great nations used to have their own distinctive styles. Brazil meant Jogo Bonito. Italy meant defensive grit. Germany were ruthlessly efficient, the Netherlands inspirationally artistic, and England stuck it where it belonged: in the mixer.

But as football has globalised, have those individual styles started to disappear? In today’s Libero, Jonathan Wilson, James Horncastle and Rory Smith discuss where national football identity came from, what it represented, and whether it has disappeared.

P1: (07:23)

P2: (35:11)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

Email in via [email protected]

Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod

Follow us on X @podcast_libero

Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions
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SC Libero, the most important of the least important membership clubs, is now live! Get on the bandwagon early, before broadsheet journalists start describing us as doing 'interesting things' at liberopodcast.com.

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Chelsea’s fine for secret payments from the Premier League between 2011 and 2018 might have been a record £10 million but within the game that punishment and suspended transfer ban have brought complaints of leniency.

Do off-book payments that secured the likes of Eden Hazard sully the club’s successes during that period under Roman Abramovich’s ownership? Is that leniency protecting the Premier League product? And now, post-Abramovich, how is the club faring under the ownership of asset managers and venture capitalists. Miguel Delaney and Tariq Panja discuss the then and now with John Brewin.

P1: (06:01)

P2: (38:11)

Produced by: Tom Bassam

Email in via [email protected]

Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod

Follow us on X @podcast_libero

Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.com

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Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions

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