The 777 Files: Investigating the Strange Multi-Club-Owner that Wants to Buy Everton

The 777 Files: Investigating the Strange Multi-Club-Owner that Wants to Buy Everton

Author: Philipp Gollner May 27, 2024 Duration: 1:17:58
Today's episode is a mix between soccer detective story and true crime podcasting. British investigative journalist Paul Brown is our Visiting Professor for the day. He and his colleague Philippe Auclair have piled up pathbreaking research on the backstory, money trail and flat out baffling activities of a group called 777 partners. Their activities in the insurance and airplanes business would be a story well worth telling in and of itself, but they feature here today because they own stakes...

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
Relegation is Liberation: Munich 1860's fall into the Fourth Division [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:40
What happens when a club loses its right to compete — not through relegation on the pitch, but through a financial trapdoor built by the very man who was supposed to save it? This summer, 1860 Munich missed a license dea…
An Austrian and an Indian walk into the World Cup... [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:52
... or: an Economist and a Tactics Nerd on what the last 6 weeks tell us about where the game is going. A spontaneous and incomplete post-final reaction. HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE: The recent CNN piece with me on wh…
World Cup 1994: An American Game, Revisited [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:16
If you're old enough — what do you remember about the 1994 World Cup? And if you're not, try to picture it. Soccer in the United States before MLS existed. Matches inside the Pontiac Silverdome, a domed football stadium…
Eurovision Reactions: a Special Episode with Phil Harrison [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:05
Phil Harrison, a former Visiting Professor on soccer in Albania before the fall of the Iron Curtain, and me are giving our take on the song contest in Vienna this past Saturday. A very helpful visual breakdown of all poi…
Small Town, Big Story: FC Thun's Long Road to an Unlikely Championship [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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 talki…
FK Bodø/Glimt: the history and community behind the headlines [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:25
Bodø/Glimt, the team from the town of Bodø north of the polar circle, counting around 45,000 inhabitants, made it to the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League this season. After beating Atletico Madrid, Manchester Cit…