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Copa Independent

Copa Independent

By: The Independent
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The 2026 World Cup will be the biggest ever for so many reasons, so we are launching the Copa Independent podcast to give you the full picture on every angle of it: not just the football, but the politics, the history, the debates and of course the nostalgia. Going out every week, it won't just get you feeling the World Cup but thinking about it.

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The Independent Football
Episodes
  • Will Donald Trump win the 2026 World Cup?

    Will Donald Trump win the 2026 World Cup?
    Apr 10 2026
    In the last 15 months alone, the build-up to this World Cup has brought more unprecedented developments than any previous tournament in history, above all a host nation bombing a participant through the Iran war. That raises many questions, right up to what influence Donald Trump is going to have on how this World Cup develops. But there's also another: if any other country was responsible, would there be calls for a boycott?

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    48 mins
  • The other World Cup England should have won

    The other World Cup England should have won
    Apr 2 2026

    Since England won the World Cup in 1966, they have not been back to another men’s final, appearing in only two semi-finals in 1990 and 2018 in their closest attempts at repeating the feat.


    So, as the 2026 World Cup approaches, on the 60th anniversary of that famous Wembley win, should England have won more tournaments with the talent and resources at their disposal? And can Thomas Tuchel finally end the wait this summer?


    In the second episode of The Independent’s World Cup podcast, sports writers Lawrence Ostlere, Miguel Delaney and Kieran Jackson discuss which past tournaments England could have won, why they’ve underdelivered and whether the neurosis of 60 years of hurt can ever be overcome.

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    44 mins
  • Jules Rimet still dreaming: how the World Cup became the biggest cultural event in history

    Jules Rimet still dreaming: how the World Cup became the biggest cultural event in history
    Mar 26 2026
    For the first edition of our weekly Copa Independent podcast, we are looking at the very meaning of the World Cup itself, and the two sides of the biggest cultural event in human history. But why has it got to that level? Why does it feel like nothing else in sport? Has it fulfilled the ideals of its creators? What would Jules Rimet, who envisioned a competition to bring mankind together, think of how it is now politically used?

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    50 mins
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