The Sweeper Podcast

🇻🇺 Vanuatu United had three players sent off in their OFC Pro League match against South Melbourne, in addition to their head coach Lars Hopp.

It has been a chaotic start to the tournament for the German manager, who has already resigned and un-resigned since it got under way!

🇲🇻 Scandal in the Maldives, where Club Valencia won their final game of the season 2-0 but still needed relegation rivals Green Streets to lose their last match by 4 goals in order to beat the drop.

To prevent that, Green Streets allegedly forfeited their last match & stayed up with a 3-0 walkover!

🇸🇻 There is a father v son head coach match-up in El Salvador's Primera División today as 62-year-old Ernesto Corti's Alianza visit Daniel Corti's Hercules!

They are - to the best of our knowledge - the only father and son in charge of top-flight clubs in the same league worldwide!

🇫🇷🇲🇨 Monaco will make the 25km journey along France's south coast to Nice today, in what is Ligue 1's shortest away day outside the capital Paris.

Interestingly, the fixture also involves the only team from outside France's borders: the visitors are based in Monaco but are members of the French FA.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Located close to the border with England, the Scottish village of Swinton is home to one of the more unique football pitches in the British Isles.

The centre-circle contains a memorial plinth, which dates back to 1769 when the village greenery was still a local marketplace!

🇸🇰 DAC 1904 0-3 Slovan Bratislava

A rather one-sided game on the pitch - although it might not have been had the hosts converted their penalty - but a fascinating one off it with flares, protests & tension between the teams that extends far beyond football.

You’re in for a treat on the next pod! 🔜

🇸🇰 DAC 1904 come from Dunajská Streda, a town in southern Slovakia where three-quarters of the local population identify as Hungarian.

The away Slovan fans have just let off flares in the red, white and blue of the Slovak flag to provoke them, leading the match to be paused due to low visibility!

📍 MOL Aréna, Dunajská Streda 🇸🇰

In Slovakia at a genuinely lovely stadium for DAC 1904 v Slovan Bratislava - a top-of-the-table clash with a geopolitical twist! Full story, of course, on the next podcast episode 🔜

🇧🇪 What a turnaround it has been for Sint-Truiden, who have gone from a relegation battle last term to chasing Champions League qualification this season.

After thrashing Westerlo 4-0 last night, they are second & only one point behind leaders Union St. Gilloise, who do however have a game in hand.

🇸🇰 A quick pitstop in Bratislava to meet our friends from the Futbalovy VAR podcast before heading to Dunajska Streda for the game 🔜

🇯🇴 Doqarah were promoted to Jordan's second tier in 2023, only to be demoted back to the third division for foul play before being reinstated in late 2024.

They were then promoted again in 2025 - this time to the Pro League, where they will play for the first time ever in 2026/27. Rollercoaster!

🇸🇰🏟️ We're on the road today to watch a table-topping clash in Slovakia between challengers DAC 1904 and reigning champions Slovan Bratislava.

DAC 1904 are from the town of Dunajská Streda, which is close to the Hungarian border and has a Hungarian-speaking majority of 75%!

🇳🇿 Auckland FC’s winning start to the inaugural OFC Pro League has finally been brought to an end by Solomon Kings, who won emphatically in Papua New Guinea!

The New Zealanders remain seven points clear at the top but their next opponents South Melbourne have two games in hand.

✍️ We have a monthly column in World Soccer magazine where we tell a selection of stories from around the football world.

'Sweeper Ultras' on Patreon can read it as part of their membership each month.

Sign up at patreon.com/sweeperpod

🇮🇹📈 Only two of the 262 clubs in the top four tiers of Italian football are still unbeaten in the 2025/26 season:

Serie C Group A: Vicenza (W19 D5)
Serie D Group G: Scafatese (W16 D6)

🇻🇳🏟️ Vietnam is in the process of building the largest football-specific stadium in the world, the Trong Dong Stadium in the vicinity of Hanoi.

The 135,000-capacity ground, which will be home to the largest retractable roof in the world, is expected to be completed by August 2028.

🇳🇱 Dutch former footballer Caifano Latupeirissa now works as a security guard in a forensic psychiatric clinic, which has its own football team: Jonker Boys.

Comprised of clients & staff, they play in a league. But they always play at home on clinic grounds as away games are not possible.

🇫🇮 The Suomen Cup, Finland's main national cup competition, gets under way with Round 0 today.

Our pick of the round is the third team of Kiffen, which has a cult following in Germany as its name means "to smoke weed" against the over-35s team of the brilliantly named SexyPöxyt (Sexy Pants).

🇩🇰 The Danish Superligaen returns from its lengthy winter break this evening, with league leaders AGF playing host to promoted OB.

From Aarhus, the second-largest city in the country behind Copenhagen, AGF hold a four-point lead as they chase their first league title since 1986!

🇯🇵 A special match takes place today in the 100-Year Vision League, the shortened season that will transition Japan's J-League to an autumn-spring schedule!

It is played between V-Varen Nagasaki & Sanfrecce Hiroshima, clubs from the two cities in the country that were atom-bombed in World War 2.

🎙️ NEW BONUS EPISODE 🎙️

It's all about South America on the new Sweeper Xtra, with stories from Brazil, Paraguay & Chile 🇧🇷🇵🇾🇨🇱

Join us on Patreon for access to bonus podcasts (including a huge back catalogue) at: patreon.com/sweeperpod

🏆 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴...𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲!

Featuring clubs whose names contain the words friends or friendship:

🇦🇷 La Amistad, 🇧🇩 Little Friends Club, 🇨🇴 Búcaros Friends, 🇩🇪 Sportfreunde Lotte, 🇭🇰 Sai Kung Friends, 🇮🇳 Friends United, 🇲🇷 FC Amitié 2020, 🇳🇦 Friends Football Club, 🇳🇬 Progressive Friends, 🇸🇳 Amitié FC

🏆 What is the UEFA Champions League story of the season? Is it Bodø/Glimt? Is it Benfica? Or is it Qarabağ?

Tune into our new podcast for more on all the underdog successes in the Champions League 🎧

🇦🇼 Aruba, a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands & a FIFA member, has appointed Lisanne Sambo-Gomez as men's national team manager.

The automated translation of the Facebook post announcing the appointment makes for interesting reading: "Follow your ass and good sports traffic!"

🇨🇦 FC Supra du Québec, the new addition to the Canadian Premier League in 2026, are set to have four home stadiums in their inaugural season!

The sole CPL club from French-speaking Canada will rotate their home games between Stade Boréale, Stade CEPSUM, Stade Telus & Stade Claude-Robillard!

🇵🇾 2 de Mayo - the Paraguayan club who qualified for the Copa Libertadores as cup runners-up as winners Juan Caballero got relegated - have beaten Peruvians Alianza Lima on their competition debut!

They won the first leg at home in Paraguay and will travel to Peru for the return fixture next week.

🇦🇿 Why did Qarabağ suddenly start to dominate football in Azerbaijan around 2013? 💰

Tune into our brand-new podcast for the full story on Qarabağ's rise and Champions League exploits 🎧pl

🇰🇬🇹🇯🇺🇿 Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan & Uzbekistan have submitted a joint bid to host the AFC Asian Cup - the continent's quadrennial international tournament - in 2031.

A number of other countries - including Australia 🇦🇺, India 🇮🇳, Indonesia 🇮🇩, Kuwait 🇰🇼 & South Korea 🇰🇷 - are tabling bids too.

🇰🇿 A Borat impression from Paul - the Sweeper Podcast moment you never thought you'd see!

Tune into our new podcast for more on the Borat-related controversy in the Champions League! 🎧

🇵🇹🌧️ Third-tier AD Fafe are expecting such bad weather at their Taça de Portugal semi-final tonight that they are offering fans free rain coats!

At least the spectators will be dry as they watch Fafe's bid to continue their fairytale run - in which they have already eliminated three top-flight teams!