The World Cup, But Not Really
The World Cup, But Not Really is a non-sporty sports podcast from SBS that looks at football through a cultural rather than tactical lens. Hosts Rune Pedersen and Stefan Delatovic skip the analysis and tactics to chase the deeply human stories that surround the game while the world watches the biggest sporting event on the planet. Episodes cover con men, jersey collectors, octopus pundits, stadium backstages, terrace chants and the emotions football stirs up. They also explore corners of the game many listeners never see, such as how blind football is played. It is a celebration of everything football touches and everything it usually leaves out.
Episodes
The Art of Football Commentary
In this final episode of ‘The World Cup, But Not Really’, Rune and Stefan take on football commentary from a handful of different languages, and dig into some of its most unforgettable historic moments. We travel through a few clips, starting at 1954, ending up in modern day football commentary, looking underneath ‘the commentary hood’ and talking about what’s going on during World Cups - and how
Football, Men & Emotions
Football stadiums and football viewing parties might be the last place where men are allowed to cry and be really emotional in public. In this episode, Rune and Stefan try to work out why. Stefan has been noticing grown men being really emotional all over during the Word Cup, and he goes looking for an explanation in the research and by chatting with Ben Vasiliou, CEO of The Man Cave. Through thei
Playing in the dark: Australia's Women's blind football
In this episode of The World Cup, But Not Really, Rune heads to a training camp to meet The Bilbies, Australia's women's blind football team, where five players plays in complete darkness, and he learns how the game is played. We meet the players and learn what it means to finally find their people, a group of vision impaired women who get it, after growing up isolated and without access to sport
When football finds a home
Chasing that feeling of football and home, Rune stumbles into the story of the Homeless World Cup, and the people for whom that feeling isn't a memory, but a lived reality. In this episode, Rune meets Kuda, who arrived in Australia in 2008 to play in the Homeless World Cup and never left. A career-ending injury and a childhood without parents back in Zimbabwe could have been the end of his story,
Makers & Takers: How a Football Shirt Becomes Sacred
How does one of the happiest jerseys in football, The Canarinho, become something some Brazilians can't bring themselves to wear? And how were iconic football jerseys from the '90s made? Those are the two topics Rune deals with in part two of the 'jersey episodes'. Rune tracks down Drake Ramberg, who spent 37 years at Nike and was part of the team in 1990s Europe that designed some of football's m
The Goalkeeper is Always Ready: Socceroo's Paul Izzo
Is goalkeeping the loneliest job on the pitch? You're part of a team, but you're also doing your own thing, separated from everyone else by a strip of grass and some paint. In this episode we find out. We meet Paul Izzo, an Australian professional footballer, and one of three goalkeepers named in Australia's squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, currently playing at the Danish Club Randers FC, where
The Australian Con Man Who Changed Canadian Soccer
In this episode, Rune digs into the tale of Con Jones. Born Thomas Shortell, a Sydney bookie who fleeced a hundred punters on Melbourne Cup day in 1903, fled the country one step ahead of a mob, and washed up in Vancouver with a bag of stolen cash and zero history in football. Twenty-five years later he died wealthy, respected, and in a Soccer Hall of Fame. Rune talks to former ABC journalist, Tre
Football, Soccer, Whatever
Rune insists the only sport played with an actual round ball that you actually kick with your foot consistently should be called football. Stefan, who grew up calling it soccer and once won most improved, is not so sure. Joining them in this episode is Dr. Hunter Fujak, senior lecturer in Sport Management and author of Code Wars, to explain why Australia is unlike anywhere else on earth, a country
Collecting Football Jerseys & Memories
What does a football jersey really mean? From a secret shirt swap in a Mexican tunnel in 1986 to a record-breaking auction sale of 7.14 million pounds, Rune explores how the humble football jersey has evolved from game day gear into cultural artefact, fashion statement, and serious collector's item. Rune meets Bryan Cush, originally from Northern Ireland and now living in Australia - a lifelong fo
Why We Chant
In this episode of The World Cup, But Not Really, Rune makes the case that football chants are among the loudest and most important things humans do together. Stefan finds them unnecessarily aggressive. Rune sits down with Jorge Knijnik, Brazilian-Australian academic and lifelong football devotee, to unpack why chanting isn't just noise. It's belonging, carnival, and controlled war all at once. An
Why The World Loves Football
Meet two culture nerds, Rune and Stefan - one who has always loved football, the other who can't kick a ball - and find out why they're making a podcast together about the world's biggest sporting event. They'll be talking to fans and players about what makes the World Cup unlike anything else, the way it suspends normal life, defines eras, and pulls people together under one flag. And Stefan intr
Kick Off: The World Cup, But Not Really
The World Cup, But Not Really is the football podcast for people who love football, and the people who don't. Host's Rune Pedersen and Stefan Delatovic dive into the fascinating world that surrounds the game: the chants and the emotions, the stories off the pitch, jersey culture, a blind women's team taking to the field, and so much more. From the weird and the quirky to the deeply human, each epi
