The Sweeper - A World Soccer & Football Podcast

When Cray Wanderers were founded in 1860, the London Underground did not exist, Abraham Lincoln was still to become US President and Italy had not yet become a unified country.

In the 166 years since then, London's oldest football club have never made it into the first round of the FA Cup - the oldest tournament in world football - until this season, when they ended their curse with a series of epic victories in qualifying.

So how did they manage to break their FA Cup hoodoo at the 78th attempt? What happened when they met Stockport County in their big match at the weekend? And what is the only football club in the world that was founded before them?

Plus, a look at the two eighth-tier teams involved in the first round and a quiz on the Club of Pioneers – an exclusive organisation for the oldest team in each country.

Join us on Patreon for a round-up of all the crazy records set around the football world this week: 51 red cards are handed out in an U20 match in Brazil, a Romanian team score every 100 seconds in a 53-0 rout and a 65-year-old wanted by Interpol finds the net in Suriname.

You can donate to Ralph's fundraiser here.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

00:52 – Cray Wanderers: The early days

03:05 – Cray Wanderers: The FA Cup debut

05:52 – The first round’s two ultimate outsiders

12:04 – Sheffield FC: The world’s oldest club

15:14 – The exclusive Club of Pioneers

18:27 – Quiz on the world’s oldest teams
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At the start of October, Chengdu Rongcheng had been top of the Chinese Super League all season and were given a 99.9% chance of winning the title: they had a 12-point lead over challengers Dalian Yingbo with four games to go.

What then followed was a bottle job of stratospheric proportions: Chengdu lost all four of their remaining matches – including a clash with Dalian, who stole in on H2H to claim their first title.

So what were the most dramatic moments in the run-in? How on earth can Chengdu’s collapse from such a comfortable position be explained? And what is it about this CSL season that means they may never have such a good opportunity again?

Plus, reactions from China and the rest of the world, plus a look at the most insane league bottle jobs in world football – from Brazil’s Botafogo in 2023 to Dutch giants Ajax in 2025.

Join us on Patreon for a round-up of all the crazy records set around the football world this week: 51 red cards were handed out in an U20 match in Brazil, a Romanian team scored every 100 seconds in a 53-0 rout and a 65-year-old wanted by Interpol found the net in Suriname.

John Duerden's article 'Choke of the Century? Six reasons why Chengdu collapsed' from his excellent 'How Football Explains Asia' Substack is here.

Sacha Pisani's 'The blame game begins in China: What really went wrong in John Aloisi’s historic title collapse' for Football360.com.au is here.

Chapters:

00:00 – A Super League season like no other

01:04 – 12 points ahead with 4 games left

07:48 – The reasons for Chengdu’s collapse

11:44 – Dalian Yingbo’s unshakeable belief

14:02 – Reactions from China and beyond

16:53 – Football’s biggest league bottle jobs
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The Principality of Sealand is an unrecognised micronation that is located on a fort in the North Sea, approximately 11 kilometres off the coast of Suffolk in the Unted Kingdom.

Despite its tiny size – at 50 metres long, it is not even large enough for a football pitch – Sealand has a national team which is about to re-enter the fray after 12 years of inactivity.

So where on earth do they play their matches? Who plays for them – and who do they play against? Why are they returning to action now after more than a decade on the sidelines? And are they your best route to becoming an international football player?

Plus, a look at the celebrities who have previously been involved with Sealand’s football set-up and the other bizarre micro-nations that have been established around the world.

Join us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/SweeperPod) for Monday's bumper bonus podcast which is a round-up of the other big domestic cup stories from the final week of October, including German supporters doing their best to cement the away sector shut and the Polish fanbase forced to pull a collective sickie to watch their team’s biggest-ever game.

Read Adam Hurrey's article on Sealand for The New York Times on The Athletic here.

The Guardian's article about Pontinha is here.

Sealand national football team's official page is here.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

00:55 – The Principality of Sealand

03:24 – First forays into international football

06:58 – Return to action after 12 years

11:50 – Ambitions to join UEFA/FIFA?

15:55 – Bizarre micro-nations worldwide
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The Slovenian Cup is mental: Pizza and a referee almost conspired to deny Rogaška the title in 2023/24, while 2025/26 winners Aluminij come from a village of just 1,000 people.

And with third-tier teams vastly outnumbering top-flight clubs and making up almost half of the last-16 line-up in 2026/27, the quirks and oddities have only increased this season.

So why does this sleepy and sedate little country have such an unpredictable football scene? And what was our live experience of the ‘Večni Derby’ between Maribor & Olimpija like?

Plus there’s a look at the 13 Eternal Derbies across Central & Eastern Europe and an announcement about the crazy new mission being set in motion at Sweeper HQ.

Join us on Patreon for a round-up of the other big domestic cup stories from the final week of October, including German supporters doing their best to cement the away sector shut and the Polish fanbase forced to pull a collective sickie to watch their team’s biggest-ever game.

You can download Futbology here.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

00:53 – ‘Tales from the 211’

02:45 – Slovenia’s utterly mad cup

08:15 – Futbology

12:30 – Maribor v. Olimpija live

17:55 – Europe’s 13 Eternal Derbies
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The old European Cup Winners’ Cup made headlines like almost no other continental competition – but was eventually discontinued by UEFA following the 1998/99 campaign.

And yet 22 years later, Europe’s governing body reintroduced a third-tier competition for its 55 member nations: the Conference League, which was launched in 2021/22.

So what were the standout moments in Cup Winners’ Cup history? Why did UEFA abolish it, only to start another tertiary competition almost a quarter of a century later? And how does it compare to its modern-day equivalent: the Conference League?

Plus, a quiz on the teams of old that participated in the CWC and a deep dive on the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which has now morphed into the Europa League.

Join us on Patreon for Monday’s bonus podcast, in which we explore the FIFA U15 World Cup taking place in Azerbaijan – the largest international tournament in football history with 189 teams – and round up other stories from Canada, Uruguay and Germany.

Follow The Sweeper on Twitter/X and Instagram.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

01:00 – European club competition timeline

04:12 – Highlights of the Cup Winners’ Cup

10:05 – The launch of the Conference League

12:00 – Patreon plug: The FIFA U15 World Cup

12:40 – The debate: CWC versus UECL

20:25 – The quiz: Real or fake CWC teams
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