The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
The academic treatment for English-speakers who get that soccer is more than gamedays, stars and goals. Who wonder about the histories, subcultures and politics that make the game so different from many American sports cultures; and who care about a critical take on soccer as a global capitalist machine. A European-guided journey, with one expert "visiting professor" each episode.
The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
Summer Round-Up: Sturm Graz, GAK, Degerfors, 1860, Bayern Munich, Olympique Marseille, FC St. Gallen, Bundesliga Investors, Football Tourism
The end of Season 2 of The Assistant Professor of Football is nigh, and we check in with guests from the last year to hear how their club, cause or research have been doing. Here are, in order:
Peter K Wagner on Sturm Graz’s sensational champions league and cup winning season
Fabio Schaupp, also from Graz, on the promotion of Graz’s other team, GAK, to the Austrian Bundesliga, so regular Graz derbies from now own.
Fredrik Rakar, chairman of Degerfors IF in Sweden, on a dramatic relegation and a new beginning in the second league.
Claus Melchior, on the ever-entertaining 1860 on and off the pitch - Claus and I went to a game together in Munich this Spring, as you may remember.
Patrik Stoehr, from the red side of Munich, FC Bayern, with an update on the work of the Kurt Landauer foundation to create a culture of and for memory and antidiscrimination.
Benjamin Senouillet on the continuing turmoil at Olympique Marseille, Europa League semifinalist
Ruben Schoeneberger from FC St. Gallen, with a brief update on how their season finished.
Raphael Molter on the future of fan activism and the German Bundesliga after the investor deal had to be cancelled, live on air here by the way, back in Spring.
And finally Felipe Tobar, currently at the Euros in Germany, on the future of football tourism, overtourism, and the public soccer memories he is researching about in Germany.
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/