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In this episode of the Unnamed Podcast, we host Mohamed Ali “Shakes,” sports commentator and content creator, to discuss the other side of football; not just as a popular game, but as one of the most influential political and social phenomena in the world.
We talk about football when it transcends the boundaries of the pitch and enters the realms of identity, nationalism, colonialism, war, and collective memory. How did the game become a tool for influence and national representation? How did empires use it in their colonies, and how did colonized peoples then repurpose it to forge their own identities? Why do some matches seem more like political or historical clashes than mere sporting competitions?
In this episode, we explore England as the empire that exported the game to the world, the Balkans where football is intertwined with war, ethnicity, and bloody memories, and Africa from Cape Verde to Zaire where football becomes a mirror of the state, its crises, and its ambitions. We also delve into the Russian-Ukrainian War, the diverse national teams, and the big question: Why does hosting the World Cup seem as much a political achievement as it is a sporting one?
An episode about football, yes… but it’s also about power, identity, colonialism, the state, memory, and everything that makes the green rectangle so much more than just 90 minutes.
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