Learn English Through Football Podcast: New Club World Cup

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Learn English Through Football Podcast: New Club World Cup

In this week’s football-language podcast we focus on the new FIFA Club World Cup and look at the competition through key numbers. We will also give our predictions for the Champions League final between Inter and PSG, which should be a cracker. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com

Hello

DF: You’re listening to Languagecaster.com

DB: Hi there everyone and welcome to the show for all fans of football who want to improve their English. My name is Damon and I am in a wet Tokyo; looking forward to the Champions League final this weekend. It looks like it could be a great game for the neutral! Damian, how are you? How is London and has there been any football news that you have been interested in this week?

DF: Hello Damon – good to hear from you and hello to everyone. Well, I have been enjoying some sunny weather here in London and like you I am looking forward to the Champions League final. I am also still enjoying the fact that my team Tottenham won the Europa League this season!

Clean Sweep (Chelsea)

Now, there was another European final played earlier on in the week when Chelsea beat Betis 4-1 in the Europa Conference League final. The London side came back from being one down to run out eventual winners. And this means they have now won all four European trophies: the Champions League, the Europa League, the old Cup Winners Cup and now the Europa Conference League. The media described this as a clean sweep which in sport means that you’ve won everything – Chelsea have won all of the European competitions. Well done to them.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Vietnamese)

DF: We’ll have more stingers or messages like that throughout the show in different languages; try and identify which ones they are as you listen. Don’t worry if you don’t know them, we’ll give you the answers at the end of the show.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Thai) 

Today’s Show

DB: Right, we’ll kick off the show with a look at the upcoming Club World Cup, which is a totally new format to previous versions. After that, we’ll have some contact information, and then we’ll give our predictions for the Champions League final.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Swahili) 

The New Club World Cup

DB: OK, this year sees the revamped FIFA Club World Cup take place in the US. At Languagecaster, we thought we’d take a look at this new format through some key numbers. The numbers are 1, 6, 11, 12, 30, and 63. Can you guess what those numbers represent? Well, let’s take a look and we’ll start with 1.

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1 New Trophy

DB: As this is a brand new format, FIFA has made one brand new trophy. So, the winning team will be lifting a new piece of silverware. But hang on, it isn’t silverware, as it is plated in gold, and it isn’t a traditional cup or shield, instead it’s a kind of disc with rings around it…. hmm.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Hungarian) 

6 Titles

DB: This is the number of Club World Cups Toni Kroos has won, 5 with Real Madrid and one with Bayern Munich. He can’t add to that total this year, as he retired, but his teammate, Luka Modrić, could join him on six if Real Madrid lift the new trophy.

Six is also the number of football confederations taking part – that is all of them!

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11 Appearances

DF: The next number is 11, and that is the number of times Auckland City FC from New Zealand, and representing Oceania, have taken part in the competition. Unsurprisingly, they have never won the tournament, but they did finish third in 2014. With their appearance this year, their appearance record will increase to 12. Definite minnows though!

12 UEFA Teams

DB: There will be twelve teams from the European federation, UEFA, in the new Club World Cup. This is the most from any of the confederations. The teams are: Atlético Madrid, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City, Porto, PSG, Real Madrid, and Red Bull Salzburg.

There are also 12 venues in the United States where the games will be played. The biggest is the Rose Bowl in California with a capacity of over 88,000.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Al-Hilal in Sudan fan)

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30 Days

DB: The expanded competition will take place over 30 days from the 14th of June until the 13th July, with the opening game in Miami between Inter Miami and Al Ahly SC, and the final in New Jersey.

63 Matches

DB: The new competition is certainly ambitious, with 63 matches scheduled. The last Club World Cup in 2023 had just seven games, and the last World Cup only had one more than this competition, with 64 matches.

$125 Million

DB: And finally, the last number is a big one. 125,000,000, which is the amount in dollars the winner can potentially win. With its gold trophy, its 30 venues, its expanded 63 matches, and this massive prize, this is certainly a big, bold competition.

Maybe a bit too big? What do you think Damian?

DF: You’re right, it is a big competition and I agree that it might be too big. Here in the UK, I am not sure if there is growing excitement about the tournament although now that the season has finished I wonder will people become more interested when it starts. How about where you are listeners? Is there excitement over this new tournament? And which teams are your favourites?

Predictions

DF: OK, next up we have our last predictions for the season and we have one game, and that is the Champions League final between Internazionale, or Inter, and Paris Saint-Germain, or PSG. Now, Inter have won this title three times and also been runners up three times, while PSG have never won the cup, losing in their only final appearance to Bayern Munich in 2020.

But forget those two teams, what is more important is that Damon and I go into this final game with Damon one point ahead in our predictions battle this season. He leap-frogged me last week with a four-point haul and now has 104 to my 103. So, it is all to play for! Damon, what do you think?

Internazionale v Paris Saint-Germain

DB: OK, first of all, I’m really looking forward to this match. Both teams have been involved in some great games on the road to the final, so it should be entertaining. PSG are the favourites, and they seem to have been able to get over the superstar issues they had previously, a team of great individuals, and they are now a really exciting attacking team. I think they’ll win this game in 90 minutes by 2 goals to 1. That’s not to say I want them to win. It would be nice to see Inter overcome the richer club and lift the trophy, but my head says a PSG win.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Cantonese)

DF: Right, this of course is after the Champions League final and I thought that this might be a tight game and go to extra time where I thought PSG would win. But as we now know the French side easily won in regular time; they thrashed Inter 5-0. It was a wonderful performance from the young PSG side that made Inter look like the oldest team in the competition. And congratulations to Damon who gets a point for predicting a PSG win and this point means he is the Languagecaster Predictions champion for 2024-25. Well done Damon!

Now, we are going to run a summer predictions competition around the FIFA Club World Cup – we’ll be announcing details later this week and we might even be able to offer a prize for the winner! Go along to Languagecaster where you will see the list of matches there.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (Palermo fan)

Contact

DF: Don’t forget to contact us via email at admin@languagecaster.com if you have any questions about the language of football or if you have some feedback on our podcast – we’d love to hear from you. Check out our website and explore our Football Language Forum – we’ve just posted some more quiz questions there around the phrase, ‘‘. There is also of course our huge glossary of football terms, with hundreds of expressions, phrases, and clichés about the beautiful game. And we’d love it if you could spread the word to your friends and followers on social media.

Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Uzbek)

Goodbye

DB:  Yes, you are listening to Languagecaster and that message, or stinger, was in Uzbek. How about the other ones; did you guess the languages? We had Thai, Swahili, Hungarian, Arabic and Cantonese. Well done if you recognised any of those and of course if you’d like to send on another stinger in your own language we’d love to hear from you. Just record, in your language, ‘Hi, you’re listening to Languagecaster.com’ or similar and we’ll add it to the show!

So, on today’s show we looked at the new format for the Club World Cup. What do you think? Too big? Or a great festival of football? Let us know by dropping us a line. We’ll be taking a short break for a few weeks, but will be back for the new Club World Cup, which, as we mentioned, kicks off on the 14th of June. Meanwhile, take care and ta-ra!

Football Language Glossary