Small Town, Big Story: FC Thun's Long Road to an Unlikely Championship

Small Town, Big Story: FC Thun's Long Road to an Unlikely Championship

Author: Philipp Gollner May 2, 2026 Duration: 1:09:21
Thun. Population 44,000. Located in the Swiss Bernese Oberland, where the river Aare meets a lake, with the Alps as a backdrop. Switzerland's biggest military town. Not exactly a place you’d expect to find yourself talking about Champions League football next season. And yet. FC Thun — a club that just got promoted from the second division — is on the verge of becoming Swiss champions in their very first year back in the top flight. It is, on its face, one of the great Cinderella stories in E...

Hosted by Philipp Gollner, The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History. is for those who feel the sport’s true depth lies far beyond the final score. This podcast digs into the rich soil from which the global game grows: the local histories, fan subcultures, and political undercurrents that shape its unique character, especially when viewed from an American perspective. Each episode functions like a seminar, with a different expert joining as a "visiting professor" to guide a deep, critical exploration of a specific topic. You’ll hear discussions that treat soccer not just as a spectacle, but as a powerful lens on society, place, and travel. The conversations are unafraid to examine the sport’s role within larger systems, including its operation as a massive commercial enterprise. It’s a European-guided journey through the complexities of the world’s game, designed for listeners who already love soccer but crave a more substantive understanding of its cultural weight and historical echoes. Tune in for a thoughtful, academic-adjacent treatment that connects the dots between the pitch and the wider world.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.
Podcast Episodes
The Devil Came to Yorkshire: Leeds United and Red Bull [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:00
The McDonald’s on Elland Road in Leeds, near the stadium of Leeds United, is, apparently, the only McDonald’s there is that has removed any element with the color red. Because Red, that is Manchester United, the rose of…