Podcasts by Forza Futbol

Mando and Ravi welcomed back Kyle of Locos4losChe and Cesar @Amunti to chat about the Valencia season so far, the future and the upcoming big Champions League game against Chelsea. If you are Valencia fan, you might know these guys already and they are very good. If you arent you will find out why when you listen to the podcast. Here is a summary of the topics discussed. Segment 1 - 31 min 1. Impressions on Valencia's season so far. 2. Best and worst signings of the summer. - Victor Ruíz, Adil Rami, Diego Alves - Dani Parejo, Pablo Piatti 3. What happened with Parejo 8 Piatti 4. Isco's exit 5. 2-Goalkeeper system - Does it work or not? - Guaíta 8 Diego Alves 6. Finances of Valencia and the shape of the future of the club 7. The impact of the debt on Valencia, updates on Nou Mestalla, the sale of the old stadium 8. The rumours of a Chinese group trying to buy Valencia - Any truth to it? 9. Best and worst games of Valencía so far 10.Valencia's playing style, Emery's tactics 4231 vs 433..etc 11.The boo-birds at the Mestalla - Los llorones Segment 2 - The all important Champions League game vs Chelsea + La Liga Title Race - 29 min 1. The approach of Valencia to this game. 2. Form of the two teams 3. Is Valencia better than Chelsea? 4. Title race 5. Can Valencia keep up with Barça till the end of the season? 6. Real Madrid v Barça - Who will win the league? 7. Can Valencia win the league again in the near future? 8. Cesar 8 Kyle's predictions for the season, Champions League amd Copa del Rey Forzafutbol podcasts on iTunesDownload Standard Podcast

An early christmas gift for all our listeners. We had the pleasure of talking to the genius on GOL TV USA, Mr. Ray Hudson. Ray's passion for football is well known and it was a pleasure to talk to him one on one and he showed the same passion on the podcast. We touched upon the following topics. Ray's playing career and his early days in the US - 13 min 1. Ray's move from Newscastle to Ft.Lauderdale Strikers of NASL 2. Career at Fort. Lauderdale Strikers 3. why did the NASL fold? 4. Klinnsmann's appointment as US head coach 5. If Ray were a midfielder today, who would it be? :-) You will love the answer for this. Ray's coaching career - 11min 1. Miami Fusion days 2. The story of Barça's attempt to set-up an MLS franchise in Miami 3. DC United days Ray's broadcasting career - 10 min 1. How did it start? 2. What Ray's likes most about broadcasting 3. Which is the best game(s) Ray has called? La Liga - 18 min 1. Impressions of the season so far 2. Real Madrid 3. Barça and El Clásico 4. Who will win the League and the Champions League 5. Munaín, Athletic and Bielsa 6. Top players 7. Favorite coaches 8. Where does La Liga stack with the rest 9. TV rights, marketing etc.. We thank Ray and GOL TV USA for giving the great opportunity. We hope all the listeners enjoy this podcast. Subscribe to listen to all of our podcasts here on iTunes Download Standard Podcast

[caption id="attachment_36394" align="aligncenter" width="316" caption="Zlatan9s book has caused quite a stir in the football world."][/caption] For the first time on Forzafutbol we had the pleasure of inviting a couple of media personalities from Scandinavia. We are pleased to welcome Johanna Gara, a football journalist at Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet and La Liga expert on TV4, a Swedish national TV channel. Johanna lived in Barcelona and covered Zlatan's stay at Barça and offers some great insights into Zlatan and a lot of things in his autobiography. You may follow Johanna on twitter @johannagara. We extend a warm welcome also to Petter Veland, La Liga-expert for the Norwegian TV-channel CANAL+. Petter watches all the 380 matches from La Liga per season. For Petter Granada - Racing is as interesting as Real Madrid - Barça. An out and out La Liga fan and specifically a Villarrea fan. [the groguets are the best, as you all know by now ;-)]. Petter is very active on twitter and all his tweets are about La Liga. You may follow him at @PetterVeland. Elisa and Ravi discussed a range of topics with Johanna and Petter. Segment #1 - 31 min How is La Liga viewed and perceived in Norway 8 Sweden Which league is the most watched league there? How many La Liga games are televised in Norway/Sweden? How many networks carry them? Who is most supported team (apart from Madrid and Barça)? Betweem Madrid 8 Barça who is more popular? How Biesla's move to Athletic piqued interest about Athletic in Norway The impact of Swedish 8 Norwegian players like Henrik Larsson and John Carew playing in La Liga and the teams supported Recent trend of people disliking Barça or complain about Jose Mourinho Who well Spain is supported over there. Penyas in Norway and Sweden CANAL+ Norway's interview of Del Nido and the reaction Predictions of Petter 8 Johanna for La Liga and Johanna Segment #2 - Zlatan book 8 the season so far 33 min The Zlatan book How Zlatan tried to be a part of Barça system - "Why did you buy a Ferrari and use it like a fiat?" Does the current issue with Villa have a parallel to the Zlatan issue? The other parts of the Zlatan book - Ibra's chidhood How Ibra got to Ajax. How does he find Italy comfortable? The Ibra-Oguchi Onyewu skirmish at Milan The childish demeanour of Ibra Reaction to Ibra's book in Norway 8 Sweden - The love and hate relationship of Zlatan with people Johanna's 1-on-1 interviews with Cesc Fabregas and Andrés Iniesta Summary of La Liga season The race for 3-7 in Spain We thank Johanna 8 Petter for their valuable time and being on the show. We also hope you will all enjoy this podcast a lot. Cheers!Download Standard Podcast

On the eve of the Madrid derby this weekend, Elisa and Ravi talked to a couple of passionate colchoneros Ricky (@rickyam) of ThisIsAtleti and @EstoEsAtleti all the way from Madrid, and Martin (@atletideneptuno) of Atletico Fans from Florida about the latest and the greatest (or not so greatest) at Atleti. Due to technical difficulties, Ricky had to drop-off during the recording but Martin has more than made up for it. Topics discussed : Total Duration 45 min 1. Atleti season so far Arrival of Falcao, diego, arda and how the team is playing different this year Manzano Reyes case Derbi - same old story ? predictions for derbi and season Europa League performance Player of the year so far and signing of the year The Jorge Mendes factor The lack of cantera players Who is in charge at Atleti Status of new stadium The story of Martin: How an American sports junkie became a fan of Atleti. Both Martin and Ricky have great passion for Atleti and have a deep knowlegde of the going ons at the club. We thank them both for agreeing to record this at incovenient hours (6am in Madrid and midnight in Florida). We hope you all enjoy this podcast. Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunesDownload Standard Podcasts

1. How does La Liga compare with other leagues in terms of audience in the US market?2. Among Real Madrid 8 FC Barcelona who get the most ratings?3. After RM 8 Barça who get the most ratings?4. Does having Mexican players in a team get them more audience in the US market?5. Who decides who gets which games among ESPN 8 Gol TV?6. HD vs Standard Definition broadcasts?7. How is it like working with Ray Hudson, your partner on Gol TV broadcasts?8. How important is it to not talk down the audience?9. La Liga season so far? ŠŠ - HighlightsŠŠ - Lowlights10. How does the 3rd place team in La Liga stack up in the Premier League?11. Rosell's comments about foreign ownership, paring down La Liga to 16 teams and revenue sharing.12. Barça or Madrid? who is better this year?13. Who is the best of the rest? 14. Can Athletic keep Llorente and Munaín beyond summer?15. Real Madrid16. Spain's troubles in friendlies, the right back problem17. Phil's picks for La Liga and Champions LeagueDownload Standard Podcast

Elisa and Ravi had the pleasure of talking to Aaron and Jeremy of Monchis Men, one of our favorite blogs in the La Liga blogosphere. We talked the 'state of the union' at Sevilla, the finanical problems of La Liga and also previewed some of the games of this weekend. Sevilla's season so far Sevilla v Athletic preview Liga Justa movement - where does it stand now? Rosell's comments about sharing the wealth and reducing the size of La Liga Are we watching Real Madrid and Barcelona lesser and lesser in the League? Aaron and Jeremy's predictions for Sevilla in the League. Best players of the Sevilla so far La Liga financials La Liga v Serie A discussion Week#13 preview Download Standard Podcasts

In our latest podcast we have Jo Sexton a La Liga contributor at STV, Irish Examiner, Backpage Football and World Football Daily. Elisa and Ravi discuss the progress of the Spaniards abroad, the games of last weekend and briefly hit upon the comments of Barça president Sandro Rosell. EPL - 20 min Fernando Torres - Is he improving? David Silva - Was he ignored for the Ballon d'Or nominations unjustly? - What was the real reason why Silva was dropped after the Switzerland game in WC 2010 - Double pivot vs Silva at false 9 Juan Mata - Pepe Reina's comments about playing in La Liga vs EPL Players in other leagues - 10 min Raúl 8 Jurado at Schalke Luis Enrique 8 Bojan at Roma Nolito, Rodrigo and Javi García at Benfica Capel and Jeffren at Sporting Lisbon La Liga Week#12 Recap - 26 min Athletic x Barcelona : Game of the season Levante x Valencia : Unai's master-piece - Where will Levante go from here? Getafe x Atlético : The crazy game - Reyes x Manzano saga - the problems at Atlético Rosell's comments - 11 min He talks about collective bargaining agreement - Is he really serious? Reducing La Liga to 16 teams - is it a good idea? Download Standard Podcast

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Simon Kuper is a renowned author of many football books. Elisa and Ravi had the pleasure of interviewing him eariler this week. Here is a list of the books he has written so far. 1. Soccer Men Profiles of the Rogues, Geniuses, and Neurotics who dominate the world's most popular sport This book profiles the interesting and the not to so interesting football figures who have graced the world of football. Our interview was mostly focussed on the contents of this book. One of the figures profiled in this book is Jorge Valdano. We discuss the legacy of Valdano at Real Madrid. Simon also talks how and why he choose certain players over the others to profile in the book. Xavi, Messi, Fabregas, Torres, Maradona, Cryuff are among the players who are profiled in this book who are either Spanish or have played in the Spanish league. 2. Soccernomics - co-authored with Stefan Szymanski Why England always loses, Why Germany and Brazil win and Why US, Japan, Australia, Turkey and even Iraq are destined to become the kings of the World's most popular port. This book is all about numbers and stats about the various aspects of football like the popularity of the game across the countries in the world. 3. Soccer against th enemy 4. Ajax, the Dutch, the War 5. Magnum Soccer 6. Simon also writes a weekly column on Financial Times The following questions/topics were discussed in the interview Inspiration for Soccermen How long it took to write Soccermen Jorge Valdano's legacy at Real Madrid Do modern players have personalities? Simon quotes a couple of examples: One of a Real Madrid player and Lionel Messi Do football players love their club? Was there a criteria you used to choose players to profile in Soccermen? Johan Cryuff - Legacy - Ajax 8 Barça academies The trend of Spanish players moving to England Why did Spain become world and european champions Soccernomics questions: Spain is not among the top nations that watch or play football. How does that explain their recent success? La Masia 8 Ajax academy Messi v Ronaldo debate Messi v Maradona debate Finances of Spanish league clubs - The case of Bryan Ruíz The Big Two in Spain vis-a-vis the European Superleague debate Rosell's comment about shrinking La Liga to 16 teams Difference in youth academies in La Liga vs English Premier League The academy wars: one club poaching academy players of another club Denis Bergkamp's aspirations to become a manager Why football clubs rarely go bust even when they are not viable financially. We thank Simon Kuper for agreeing to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk to us. We also thank Caitlin Graf of Peruse Books who helped us coordinate and schedule this interview for us. Contest for podcast listeners Listeners! We have a contest for you! During the interview Simon mentions what are the new books that Simon is working on right now. All you have to do is Email us the names of ALL the new books he is working on. You have a chance to win a copy of the Soccermen! The prizes are sponsored by Peruse books. Thank you Caitlin.Download Standard Podcast

In this week's edition of the podcast Elisa and Ravi round up the big topics of this week. The Champions League the Europa League, The Ballon d'Or nominations, the Golden Boy nominations and a host of other topics. It is a bumper edition. There are a lot of talking points in this one. Segment#1 Champions League 8 Europa League recap - 22 minutes Crucial win for Valencia Real Madrid 8 Barcelona continue in cruise-control mode The misery run continues for Villarreal Athletic advance and Atleti are in great shape to advance in the Europa League Segment #2 Ballon d'Or 8 Golden boy - 20 minutes Discuss the nominations for the FIFA Ballon d'Or Elisa 8 Ravi's top 3 for the award Discuss the nominations for the Golden Boy Elisa 8 Ravi's top 3 for the award Segment #3 Recent editorials and upcoming specials - 25 minutes The media brinkmanship issue Are refs biased in La Liga The racism issue and how social media is making it worse Announcement about a great soccer writer that we will interview next week Download Standard Podcasts

In today's podcast Elisa, Mando and Ravi welcome Eduardo Perez Suarez "Edu" one of the founders of La Lambretta radio. You may reach him at @LaLambretta on twitter. We went old school in this podcast going around the league starting with Sporting and Levante. You may also hear him on www.oidradio.es in La Lambretta and Aqui hay pelotas. Sporting - 15 min Current situation of Sporting from both sporting and financial aspects? Can Sportiing make a purchase in Jan if needed? Are there are any gems in the cantera of Sporting that might help? Why are teams like Sporting not producing gems like David Villa anymore? Is it better to set some rules like in UK where kids can only go the academies in their region? Levante - 17 min Can Levante keep up the rythm? What is the secret of their success, if there is any? Are Levante dirty? - The fine line between gamesmanship and being dirty. Impact of the media on the over-scrutiny fouls and physical play that isnt necessarily rough or dirty. Financial problems, Management style and the curious case of Racing ownership - 7 min What happened to financial problems of La Liga? why dont people talk about them anymore? The Racing issue - Do you know that Ali Sayeed who is on the run from Interpol still owns the majority stake at Racing Santander? Is the English style of Manager better and the way going forward in Spain? Villarreal, Valencia - 9 min What is the truth in Benitez to Villarreal rumours? Is the criticism of Unai by the Valencia fans justified? Cagna to coach Villarreal if Garrido were to let go? Atlético problems - 9 min The troubles of Manzano at Atlético Too many changes, adaptation issues Raúl García and Ibrahima lighting it up at Osasuna after leaving Atlético Is Bernd Schuster next in line at Atlético? Espanyol - Pocchetino, the importance of a having a 'home'guy at the helm The Radios v MediaPro issues - 7min The suspicious sponsorships by Doyen Group of all Coaches having a lot of players from the same agent as theirs Do coaches get kick-backs for player signings? The suspicious sponsors - Doyen Group - 7min Doyen group sponsoring Getafe, Atlético and Sporting El País ran story that this is more than a mere sponsor. It is an investment fund to buy players Is this another road leading to a disaster? Download Standard Podcast

Elisa, Mando and Ravi welcomed Chris Clements of the wonderful and informative blog Estadios de Fútbol en España. The site has a lot of information about the majority of the stadiums in Spain. La Liga, Segunda and even further down. Chris descrbes how he got into this hobby and his modus operandi of getting the information about the stadiums. Agenda : Stadiums in Spain, Audience, tickets etc.. 52 minutes. Top 5 stadiums in Spain The uniqueness of San Mames and other structures similar to it The story of the arch at the San Mames. The modus operandi and inspiration for Chris's interest in stadiums of Spain Compare stadiums in Spain to those in UK The Bernabeu, the Camp Nou and the Cornella The away fan culture in UK and the lack of it in Spain Attendances in UK The Municipal stadiums and the multi-use stadiums Attendances in Spain Ticket prices in Spain - areas where La Liga can improve to get better attendances and filling the stadiums. Stadiums in the Segunda and the lower leagues. Special mention to Carlos Tartiere of Real Oviedo Download Standard Podcast

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In our latest pod Elisa, Mando and Ravi talk to Natalia (@arkulari), a crazily passionate life long Athletic fan who lives in Colombia. Natalia tells her stories surrounding the derby and what it means for the fans of the two Basque teams.She is also a passionate fan of Spanish national team. We get her views on the current Spanish national team. Since she watched all the Spain U20 games at the recently concluded U20 World Cup in Colombia, we also get some of her great insights on some of the young guns of La Roja. Apart from that, we have our usual segment of headlines where we discuss the La Liga action of the past weekend. Segment #1 : Headlines : La Liga round-up - 23 minutes Levante continues to impress Málaga thriller Cristiano sharing the ball 8 Pipita's hattrick And much more Segment #2 : All things Athletic with Natalia Intro The Basque derby experience, what it means to the fans. Natalia's impressions on current Athletic of Bielsa - has he found the formula and the right side Spanish national team - who should be the #9 and what are the other needs of the team The U20 World cup experience - who could be the next stars Predictions for the Czech republic game and Natalia nailed it! 0-2 :-) All of this interspersed with some funny anecdotes and banter with La Real and Donosti (San Sebastian) We thank Natalia a lot for her time. It was great fun to listen to her passionate views and her energy in general throughout the podcast. We hope you all will enjoy it too.Download Standard Podcast