WELCOME to
THE FOOTBALL WEEKEND.
Across eight years as a writer and editor at Esquire magazine here in New York, there wasn’t too much time for football stories. But I snuck in a few, like a feature on the U.S. Men’s National Team heading into the World Cup and a trip to Qatar to cover the tournament on the ground.
When Diego Maradona died, I wrote the obituary, and the highlight of my time at the magazine was an interview with Pelé, a job that went to a 24-year-old editorial assistant because I was the football fan on staff.
I still do some magazine work (like a recent interview with Christian Pulisic for GQ) but I always wanted to cover the game more regularly. Now I’ve found a way to cover it every week.
But what can you expect from THE FOOTBALL WEEKEND?
1. The Friday morning podcast where a special guest drops by to preview the biggest match across world football over the coming weekend.
It might be a famous old rivalry, like the Superclásico or the North London derby. Or it might just be a title bout in the Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A, and beyond:
Some notable guests so far….
⚽︎ CLIVE TYLDESLEY
⚽︎ ROBBIE EARLE
⚽︎ DEREK RAE
⚽︎ KASEY KELLER
⚽︎ IAN DARKE
⚽︎ CARL ANKA
⚽︎ JON CHAMPION
⚽︎ STU HOLDEN
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2. The podcast is embedded in a Friday morning newsletter that maps all the matches worth your time this weekend across the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, and more.
Get kickoff times and storylines in your inbox to mark the beginning of the end of the workweek.
Plus: LONG READS recommendations and some good-looking GEAR from the week just past:
3. And for full access to FEATURES — the best of The Football Weekend's magazine-style journalism — you can JOIN THE WEEKEND.
Get Q&As with great players and football minds, the “Cathedrals” series on the world's great stadiums, and more — all for the price of a pint:
Across all the work, you’ll find an emphasis on stories, not statistics. In a modern football world of “G/A” and Player Ratings, I want to tell the stories of the world’s game: the history of a rivalry, a behind-the-scenes look at a club and its culture, or a healthy dose of Narrative before the ball gets rolling. Come along for the ride.
—Jack
