The Stadios 2025

0:22oh look at that wow hello welcome back it's the studios i'm usul konga i'm ryan hun ryan how are you i'm doing all right thanks man how are you i'm ready to get stadioed up the least awaited awards talk about coming back down to earth with a bump right after the most wonderful time of the year comes the least wonderful time of the year and that's the stadios 2025 strap yourselves in the least anticipated award ceremony of each year in any genre.

0:57Well, if you were celebrating, we hope you had a lovely Christmas. And if you weren't celebrating, we hope you had a lovely Christmas time. Yeah, we hope everyone enjoyed the Football Things to Be Grateful for episode that went out on Christmas Day. I think that was our longest ever episode that we've put out. I think that's about right, yeah. But yeah, today it is the final show of the year. And if you're listening to this on the free feed and you want to sign up and listen to the last two weeks of episodes for free, you can do on patreon.com forward slash stadio. We put the last two weeks of shows of 2025 on the Patreon for free members.

1:28And then it all goes back to normal on New Year's Day, which we will have a very brief episode on New Year's Day. Anyway, the Stadios, 2025. Thank you for sending in your nominations, actually. Thank you for sending them in. Yeah, thanks to everyone. We opened it up a little bit this year for nominations. And it was great because it prompted our memories a little bit of stuff that we kind of maybe missed or forgot. So this year, we have nine categories. The Prop Joe Award is taking a break this year, but we have the return of the Ballon Drip for the first time, I think, since 2021, maybe? I mean, several players have had it in a chokehold, really, in its year off.

2:07They've been doing impressive things. It felt like it was time to bring it back. Players really stepped up their drip. Absolutely. We're going to alternate, so we'll go back to back. But the categories are existential moment of the year, Big Mood of the Year, the Ballon Drip, Goal of the Year, Angry Goal of the Year, which has now been renamed the Pauskas Award. The Pauskas, yep. Love that. Team of the Year, Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, and the big one, Catfish of the Year. Previous winners include, illustrious previous winners include Everton men's football team.

2:52the european super league and the only individual to win gianni infantino michael arteta's two goalkeeper plan so yeah should i kick it off yes please go for it first award of the existential moment of the year maybe a brief explanation of this it's for the moment in football where the individual institution involved the individual institution at the center of it was feeling the most yeah it's feeling something it can either be a what are we doing here moment what the hell are we doing here what am i doing here moment yeah it can be like a what the hell is going on here moment yes it's all three yeah all three in one which is usually the uh the trifecta and they call it a they call it a stadio flush that's what they call Triple crown.

3:43So the nominations for this year's existential moment of the year are Blackburn Rovers' repeated waterlogged pitch abandonments while being ahead in games. Ange Postacoglu winning the Europa League final and then being fired. The Pankus Award. Ange Postacoglu taking the Nottingham Forest job. Cristiano Ronaldo doing the crybaby face before being sent off against Ireland and then the TV cameras cutting to a guy in the crowd at Lansdowne Road doing the crybaby face back at him. That's an all-time moment of the year. I think at one point there were like tens of thousands of people doing that face.

4:26And the final nomination is Manchester United versus Chelsea in the Premier League Old Trafford in the pouring rain with the red card and even though there was technically a winner what did what was the united united won that one united did win right okay because it just about just about although yeah i enjoyed myself strangely i had a great time however there can be only one winner and the winner of the 2025 stadio existential moment of the year award is the poor liverpool press officer who's standing behind mo salah and starts to realize that he's actually going off in the mixed zone after the leads game and it's there's a moment of realization where he looks up and mo's saying this stuff and then he starts furiously texting to be like we've got a fucking code red we've got this is bad this is really bad no warning just it's like something from the thick of it honestly it is genuinely It's generally dropping your press officer in the middle of it.

5:36I don't think I think PR professionals, LinkedIn must have exploded the next week. The things that we learned from the things that we had, you have five learnings. Well, also I think the main, the main learning is never stand within camera shots. Don't stand next to the player, stand like to the sides, you're within reach. So you can dive across and take a bullet if you have to, but do not stand behind them. otherwise you it's you know it's like it's the equivalent of in the nba don't stand under the hoop when the player's approaching to dunk because then you'll be in a million posters i mean this is this is the yeah i was gonna say this is the the press officer version of being posterized got posterized exactly

6:19nothing you could do nothing you can do about it basketball fans have on their walls obviously posters of NBA players and maybe PR press officers have photos of great press conferences going off without a hitch and then every now and again you're like these are the teachable moments you know that person needs to start a podcast about failure you know there's these podcasts about like you know how to fail big you could go on a speaking tour in the US I want that person to go on high performers you know and diary of a CEO oh my goodness yeah do the full round Get him on stick to football. Just get the whole, do the whole press tour.

6:55But yeah, anyway. Record scratch. Oh God. That's an incredible one to kick it off. Just to clarify, absolute sympathy with that person because that is a nasty situation to be in. Having worked in communications before and having been thrown a couple of like massive curveballs before and having to deal with stuff like that. Thankfully not on camera, but I've had to deal with one or two situations that were like really, really. And I, I know one thousandth of what that individual was feeling. and even that was even that was enough it's like parking the car and forgetting to put the handbrake on and just seeing it creep down the hill towards the ocean yeah yeah exactly I was going to say in Seattle it was going to be like a really steep hill where you couldn't the kind of hill where you're like it's gone I can't even yeah there's not even a moment to redeem okay so wow the next then I'd like to follow that the next one is the big mood of the year to briefly explain It's for somebody or an institution who in a particular moment summed up, I think, the spirit of football at that time or imposed themselves.

8:01This is really for main character energy, I feel. This is for main character energy. So it's primarily an individual award or a club can win it at times. The nominees for Big Mood of the Year. Eberichi Eze for the Hattrick against Spurs and for returning to Arsenal in general. Kieran Tierney's goal for Scotland against Denmark Wow Chloe Kelly just at the Euros Just the energy I mean specifically the run up in a crucial penalty shootout with the socks up and all of that and just like on smoke Scott McTominay smoking cigars after Napoli win the Super Cup also Scott McTominay at Wimbledon also Scott McTominay post visits to the hairdressers calendar year Scott McTominay Scott McTominay Scott McTominay doing an overhead kick and then getting up on his hair being perfect yes yes the final nomination before we name the winner Troy Parrott's winner against Hungary and then his celebration with his entirety wow absolutely mind blowing that very nearly won it very very nearly it was basically the glimpse behind the cone it was essentially the winner it was the working title the front runner for a long time.

9:19That almost won the Parrot Door for Big Mood of the Year, but we should just call it the Parrot Door in honor of him. But the winner was Serena Viegman after winning the Euros back to back with England, dancing with Burner Boy in public. This is just incredible. I just can't think of a bigger mood in terms of announcing that's your favorite artist like years ago without any idea of you know of this coming full circle and then like to be surprised because it was surprised her i think as well this is the best thing about her so hyped she's so hyped like you know i mean like as someone who keeps their cool very very consistently she kind of lost it literally the only time i've seen her like break break character yeah it's maybe the aim of like a football to get scene of england to like break character maybe that's the aim with all that she's won that's the most excited I think I've seen her like post-match post-trophy win when Burnham Boyd turned that's basically Father Christmas and just knowing all the words and going along and just like yeah yeah nailed on and the best thing about it very often when a public figure says that so-and-so is their favourite you don't really expect to be their favourite you'd be like okay have they focus group this or have they named something they vaguely like which is more often the case right I really quite like this but every now and again you get like let's say it's a timothy chalamet and oh i love this mc and they'll actually like they will know like a 10 minute they're like a 10 minute tune from this person with no like with no choruses and serena vignette's in that class of no this person's actually a nerd for this stuff yeah yeah and at one point i was like i think she may be a bigger burner boy fan than she is a football enthusiast yeah i agree so it's generally the level yeah yeah exactly congratulations to serena viegman for winning the big mood of the year yeah i doubt there's no trophy for it um i doubt you'll want to pick it up if there was one i'm sure with modern technology we could probably like 3d print one i do know what one of my goals for next year is to be big enough that this is a thing and that people we can actually do trophies and people want them oh in a dream world i would do in a dream world i would do a stadio sports personality of the year.

11:34I would actually have one. I told you about it. Listen, when we said if we get big enough to switch from the Purcell room at the South Bank to Royal Festival Hall we're doing the stadios in there. It's going to be the most it'll be absolutely ridiculous. Black tie, red carpet, Catfish of the Year award. One can but dream. One can but dream. All right, let's go on to the next award. Yes. Which is for the Ballon Drip. The return of the Ballon Drip. The best dressed person or people in football to be honest there could be so many nominees in this category we could be here forever so we're just going to do a couple of quick quick shout outs but not proper nominees so uh 75 of the nwsl pre-game fit checks i think could probably go in yes single-handedly just like raising the floor of football fashion actually vincent company for leaning into the y3 stuff at bayern very recently as well he clearly went down to the hq at adidas and to be uh the VIP shopping Alexey Poteas that recent never found lacking at the Camp Nou has to be in there obviously Ian Wright's going in there it's the legend and listen the challenges are there people are always looking including myself people are always looking to topple the top of the monarch I'm always I'm always at his neck but he's still delivering and the final nominee is Jules Koundé who always looks great always always never looks that happy about it funnily enough I'm like you are streets ahead although Part of the thing.

13:00Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's right. Do you know what about Jokunde? He's clearly inspired like all his teammates too. I know. Mbappe turning up to the training camp going, oh, your new hair. Pretty posh. Because Mbappe used to be fairly sensible. Yeah, yeah. Mbappe was normcore. Did he do a Uniqlo? Very Uniqlo. I imagine that. No, but he was very Uniqlo coded. Yeah, yeah. Mbappe is very, I still think that collaboration will happen at some point. However, there can be only one winner and it's a recent entry. But it just came in and was just like... Has to be. Sorry, one of the stadios?

13:35Nailed on. Time to drop. It's the Côte d 'Ivoire men's AFCON outfits. Listen, the outfits are just extraordinary. Extraordinary. They are absolutely incredible. And the energy is... Yeah. I mean, we could almost call it the Ballon d 'Ivoire. just because it they're like they're the perennials you know when you're so far ahead of the other winners you get to retain it it's almost a title belt that has to be taken from them now so it's actually you have to exceed what they're doing in order to get it off them because they've raised it single-handedly that those coats so good clear it's a great picture of Ahmad Diallo.

14:21You know, the Diallo's face, his expression is like, oh my God. He looks like he's on the red carpet. He's so locked in. Yeah, he's so locked in. It's incredible. Designed by Maison Eliquam and yeah, they look unreal. Just levels of it's above and beyond. It's out of here. Congrats to the Cote d 'Ivoire and best of luck in the AFCON. It could be, you never know, it could be worth that extra 5-10 % when you need it. Gold of the year. Oh, a big one. Goal of the award. It always surprises me how early this one rocks up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's go into it. So Piotr Zielinski against Verona. Wow.

15:01For Inter. Wow. Banger from a corner. Aitana, Bonmati for Barcelona against Chelsea. Oh yeah, the run. It felt like a very un-Bonmati goal, that. It felt, it did and it did. Yeah, exactly, it did and it didn't because the thing that Bon Matty does it felt like Bon Matty was like I'm trying to settle this conversation like a lot of Bon Matty goals feel like statements and this was one of them Mickey van der Ven Spurs against Copenhagen the centre back doing that even Beckenbauer nodded at that and goes oh look at my boy go still genuinely can't believe that happened unreal unreal Mariano Condente Arsenal against Lyon yeah very important goal that yeah an absolute bang from distance Louis Diaz for Bayern Munich against Union the impossibility of this I think this goal gets better every time I see it actually you know what it is so amazing it's the first touch with the spin on it and then the build up play and then yeah and Stanisic giving him the pass that is over here it's all of it all of it is unreal all of it's unreal Viv Mideba for the Netherlands against Wales at the Euros the double drag back and the curler unbelievable Vivian a save for West Ham against Palace basically going coast to coast and then that finish is wild that finish was so wild that it made other bangers look normal yeah yeah this I feel really bad because like 90 percent of like the candidates for this you look at the USA goal and you're like nothing else touches that yeah Pedri of course Pedri for Barcelona against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final.

16:4325. That goal on that stage. That player. The thing that I love about this, because it's a Luminium-al assist, right? Yeah. Pedri's not in shot. But the thing about Pedri turning up out shot is like, it's classic. It's like emergency services. Pedri to the rescue. It's perfect. Very much a footballing adventure. Then we have Olivia Smith on debut for Arsenal against London City Lionesses. All the expectation. And she comes out with that. It's unreal. from distance. Lisbeth Ovale for Tigres against Chivas. Wow. In the Women's League MX. The most creative finish on the entire list. The most creative.

17:23Like, just absolute genius. It looked like it's the football equivalent of a Kyrie Irving layup. It defies physics. It defies physics. You shouldn't be able to finish from that angle. It's an artist. It's the most artistic goal. I think it was this, if this got, if this award was merely artistic impression, then this would win. Declan Rice free kicks for Arsenal against Madrid. My favourite is the second, but some might say the first was on the set of awards. But they have to get, they exist as a pair, I think. They do. And the thing about it is, I think because the vulnerability of Courtois, that should not have been possible from that distance.

18:00And yet it was possible twice. They're both extraordinary. Lucy Bronze for Chelsea against Roma in the UEFA Women's Champions League. just flat out genius and also like it felt like sometimes in bronzer scoring these goals she's answering more and more critics that shouldn't exist anymore yeah every now and again she does a goal at this to be like no no i am i'm cooking at this level uh it's like an mc just dropping like an ep out of nowhere to be like it's like under a few thousand doing a verse once a year to be like yeah then we have luca fuscovic the flick against veda bremen a house foul what a goal an absolute banger that's you know that that that's actually like one of those ones that goes into the puskas like oh my god yeah puskas yeah yeah in terms of creativity actually in in in the combination of this and the angry goal paul verda bremen why are you making us relive this stuff very much posterized for this one um and then the last couple of nominations the last few nominations marta marta for brazil against colombia the first of the two goals in the copa america feminine final wow coming in the sixth minute of injury time ripped it from distance astonishing colombia having gone three to up with two minutes to go of normal time and then she comes up with that eight minutes later on as a sub and it's in the uh it's in the studio video incredible it's astonishing yeah that's the one and then we have Kenny McLean for Scotland against Denmark one of the goals that takes Scotland to the World Cup astonishing strike Scott McTominay shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot oh my god he's done it he's done it amazing commentary the entire stadium rising as the ball sails in Scott McTominay for Scotland against Denmark in the same match the bicycle kick early on that sets the tone for everything and continues his all-timer of the season but the winner the winner is arguably the goal well really the goal of that game the goal of the year Kieran Tierney for Scotland against Denmark the goal that takes Scotland to the World Cup for the first time since it's 1998 Kieran Tierney it is many congratulations I think it has to be and we we kind of went back and forth on this didn't we we went back and forth we armed Denard I had a different choice at first and a different choice from the same match because I feel like these are maybe the three most important goals of the year.

20:30But then we were talking about it a little bit and we were saying, well, like the Tierney goal is essentially the one that takes them there, really. Right. Yeah, yeah, it is. And the Kenny McLean goal doesn't really happen without the Tierney goal. And also I think the fact that it was Kieran Tierney, who's very, very universally popular in Scotland, in England, amongst, I think even like amongst fans of teams that he hasn't played for. Comes on as a substitute, he's been out injured, had loads of injury problems recently, went back to Scotland, back at Celtic. But I think the kind of goal it was as well, where it's kind of an amazing, it's like a goal that we've seen Messi score.

21:14And also I think the fact that I don't think he realises fully what he's done in that moment. It's a bit like, you know you can see his face he seems a bit almost like shell-shocked was it like the late winner that messi got was it against iran or bosnia in the world cup when it's like through a crowd of people and there's the pierlo one against ghana yeah through the crowd there's something about those goals where they've clearly been threaded with a particular like precision the one i always think of which is a very different kind of goal but you know the goal that tiago Alcantara scored for Liverpool off the floor it goes under everyone but it's a volley and it doesn't quite touch the floor you can't I still can't tell if that touches the floor or not I don't think it does it goes down and up but it never touches the floor and it never gets above like a foot and a half unreal doesn't give up knee height yeah it's unreal yeah goals like that I think they're just like wow I mean the precision that you have to have for that and you don't get any time to think about it it has to be on it and it has to go in to use yeah to use a tennis analogy because I've been watching a lot of tennis this year it's the final passing shot at the end of a rally where the person that hits the pass has no right to recover it yeah they think they've got you and then you just hit it down the line it's the those who know this game Alcaraz plays Nakashima and they basically they're rallying drop shots at the net which you didn't really get in the old days and like they're basically like Nakashima plays Alcaraz plays a drop shot nakashima plays one back and then alcaraz somehow scrambles across and returns it should have been a winner there's no there's no human reason how back he gets that back and the tierney one is maybe the same because so much is in the balance at that point it's so much is in the balance and i think the backdrop of this is if you look at like the the big clubs in quote the two biggest clubs the old firm clubs not having the best time of it i think it's fair to say um in europe and then against the backdrop of all of that you've got this scottish team which is outperforming the old firm it's maybe one of the first times you've seen a scotland team outperform yeah it's two biggest clubs yeah and it was almost like not it's not hail mary because this is a i think this is a special generation of scotland footballers i think it's really really special and for them to return to the world cup it's almost like this generation's got something to show for it now and Steve Clarke as well when he took the job he mentioned it was seen as the impossible job and he's made something incredible out of it yeah I love this I love this choice me too congratulations Kieran Tierney congratulations okay we move on to the angry goal of the year which for the first time is now known as the Pauskus Award this is for a goal scored with particular an angry catharsis not necessarily with venom but with a kind of outpouring of doesn't mean venom but an outpouring certainly of rage yeah many forms many forms also it doesn't have to be necessarily hit that hard it's that it was conceived and executed with fury as the basis so yeah let's um let's go through them Lucy Bronze for England against Sweden is our first nomination Humdinger Marcus Rashford second against Newcastle for Barcelona goodness Keenan Dewsbury Hall for Everton against Wolves Moises Caicedo for Chelsea one against Liverpool and another one against Brentford I mean you could conclude that maybe almost every single Caicedo goal is an angry goal there are some players who are like that of which more later of which more later Benjamin Sesko for RB Leipzig against Werder Bremen if you haven't seen this goal poor Werder I think it's still accelerating by the time it hits the net and it's already going to use a technical term f***ing quick I think he does this like once a year Seshko because he did it to Juventus this goal is ferocious Kvaryk for PSG against Aston Villa this man has an absolute yeah that's a that man's got some serious fire in those boots Luis Diaz Bayern against Club Brugge now this one was good job there was like good job there was a net in the way you know it's you know it's bad when members of the crowd like drawing their head back ducking exactly um chloe kelly for arsenal against man city and the reason this is in there is because near the end of the game and they think arsenal have got uh an equalizer and she gives it the big with the kind of like punching the badge kind of giving it to the city fans because obviously there's a bit of needle there after her yeah yeah departure from city takes a couple of seconds and arsenal players realize that they can still go and win the game go and get the ball back and then actually man city end up getting a winner the reason i love this though is because it's so unashamed it's just like yeah completely the goal itself wasn't even that good it was a deflection well it was it was good but it was like a deflection into the corner do you know i mean but i also like it because it breaks the taboo of the muted celebration oh yeah yeah yeah yeah i love that i think i love that i love that uh lamina mal for barcelona against inter in the champions league i mean this when he just went into warp drive for like 10 minutes and they talk about flow state and all the rest of it okay i get that but this felt like i don't know flow state feels quite gentle and serene this was like uh like f1 drivers driving angry oh this was you know it's with all yeah full technique as well like driving angry but like every corner that thing that senna said when he was like uh when he was going around monaco and he was like i was no longer driving the car i looked down and saw myself and i had this out-of-body experience yeah this is the closest thing lamina miles goal it's not the winner this year but it's the closest thing i think i saw last year to an out-of-body experience i can imagine lamina mile like looking down on himself going oh my goodness look at that boy go i imagine the mickey van der ven goal against copenhagen's like that though where mickey van der ven's like going i can't believe i'm still going i can't believe i'm still going i'm gonna have to shoot i'm gonna just shoot from here i'm not even that close but I'm going to shoot they're going to find out when they study his brain patterns they're going to be like oh yeah actually that was the same brain pattern as an Olympic skier going downhill yeah and the final just a shout pretty much every single Leandro Trossard goal because a lot of people nominated him anyway the winner of the 2025 angry goal of the year aka the Pauskas award is a goal we've already mentioned the previous category an equaliser in a crunch moment of a final to send the game into extra time Marta's first goal for Brazil against Colombia because she come on as a substitute and then ended up scoring a second in extra time before they went to penalties The reason why it's such a perfect angry goal is basically is the equivalent of you getting into trouble in the playground and your big sis having to come and bail you out so oh oh oh ryan's fighting the playground again it's our sis sis marta marta and she's like really really you dragged me off again i'm relaxing at the end of my career minding my business listen you bench me i didn't have to start i'm not oh really oh okay you want me to intervene okay okay okay to come on and do this shit at my age really really it's just and just comes in and absolutely rips it and like even the faces in the crowd people are having like religious experiences people in the crowd were literally like i mean the joy also people have watched me you look at the age profile a lot of those supporters as well they've grown up with Marta and they've seen her do all these incredible things what six times world player of the year they've seen her do everything and then she goes and does that well again like to use this comparison the nakashima the alcaraz comparison the commentator going you think you just when you think you've seen it all you know imagine you're putting together like marta's career highlights you're like okay we've done the final edits and actually the editor's like i'm so sorry we've got another late entry we had to cut all these yeah we've actually we can't we actually don't have enough time to put all of these in incredible that's the one congrats Marta Agri-Gol of the Year yes yes 2025 love it Europe Moosa team of the year team of the year oh my goodness the nominees for this wow wow nominees England women for going back to back at the Euros Crystal Palace men winning the FA Cup and then the Community Shield Sullen men not only coming up into the Premier League but showing out like they have done Palestine men getting out of the group over the Asia Cup for the first time with everything going on in the background unreal what they've achieved.

30:12Flamengo men winning the domestic title and winning the Copa Libertadores. Extraordinary achievement. Then we've got, I suppose, jointly, Capverde men and Curacao men for qualifying for their first ever World Cups. Populations respectively about half a million. Half a million for Capverde and Curacao, I think 150 ,000. Smallest, well, nations with the smallest populations apart from Iceland to qualify for the World Cup, the men's world cup arsenal women for winning the uefa women's champions league against that barcelona side extraordinary and especially after their failure to qualify just recently before psg men for the treble and that astonishing pressing performance in the final against inter one of the great final performances brazil women for winning the copa america feminina um with marta taking everything all matters in hand chelsea women for going that huge unbeaten run under Sonia Bonpastor, obviously struggling in the Champions League, but listen, many great teams have done that.

31:14But their domestic form has been astonishing much of this calendar year. But the winner we felt, the winner for Team of the Year, the Montgreen FC, undefeated USL League 2 national champions. Just, it had to be, I think. That whole story, everything they did, and just, and to win it so late on as well and to go through like round after round and again a team rather like England women at the Euros where everyone's out, everyone's out for you and you still get it done. It's astonishing. Yeah, this might feel like a bit of a curveball but we thought that it was so hard to pick what edged it from like the very top level of the men's and women's game.

32:00Something about the Vermont Green season felt kind of magical and obviously we went to visit them last year and we chatted to coach chris taylor and the guys um you know pat matt and sam you know who were owners and it was chris's first full season in charge as as head coach having been assistant previously right so you know and there was one thing i think he said at the time where he said look this is a really good squad of players and we were teasing him weren't we being like you better go and win it yeah but the fact that they didn't only just go and win it they went and won it unbeaten and just everything that they stand for as a club and everything they're trying to achieve through football yeah i think it was just for us it was absolutely amazing yeah because they went from talking about it was at seacoast they went from talking about local rivals yep and having to like get past the local rivals and to go onto that stage and do that yeah and the way they did it and it was like you know each morning you'd wake up and check the highlights check the scores and they just kept going through round after round yeah and to win it as late as they did it's epic it felt like um it's not often used the word destiny but it felt like every every now and again those big championship runs they feel like there's like a destiny it felt like a kind of it's not as much as an underdog story as leicester in the premier league but it felt like it was similarly baited it felt like the uh the stars aligned for them.

33:25So yeah, huge congratulations to Vermont Green FC. Coach of the Year nominations. Luis Enrique. Because many have tried and many have failed to get a tune out of that PSG. Well, not even that PSG side, but a PSG side. Only Thomas Tuchel really came close. With a very, very different setup. The way he got them playing and they looked like a proper, proper football team. Absolutely, they did. Vincent Kompany, because people might say, well, he manages Bayern, what's the big deal? But I think that what he's done at Bayern, and you've talked about this many times on Stadio, is just kind of quietened everything down, which is so difficult to do.

34:10So, so difficult to do. And, you know, regaining the league title last season was big. and you know I felt like they probably could have done a bit better in the Champions League but they look they're starting to look a bit better he's improved them yeah there's just no noise around him which is amazing and actually quite rare in recent years about Bayern he's a young man as well he's a young man Serena Wigman three euros in a row she's drawn ridiculous Rene Schlagers for taking over from Jonas Eideval and then taking Arsenal to the Champions League title is very very very incredible yeah yeah Frank Lampard yes because Coventry currently currently sitting top of the championship and looking good to return to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years if they return they went down they got relegated in the 2020 2000-2001 season but he's also currently achieving his highest win percentage as a manager at Coventry 56 % his previous eyes was at Chelsea 52 % so doing an amazing job at a club that has really been through it over the last couple of decades yeah yeah yeah I think this is the first job in which he has shown himself to everyone no no to be an undeniable managerial talent yep because I think other jobs you could look at Chelsea and he did some impressive things with young players there the early development of Mason Mount you can look at that and some might say look he proved it then I'm not I'm not entirely sure I think he showed he was a good coach maybe even a really good coach but I think this is the first time you look at it and go that guy has got so much upside ahead of him yeah another nominee Sonia Bonpastor for Chelsea lost her first WSL game as Chelsea manager very recently against Everton won the treble in her first season in charge Super League FA Cup League Cup so good and we talk a lot about being the person after yeah the coach who's done big things they're coming after emma hayes and do that really tricky job in that stuff yeah yeah really really tough and of course that some chats some issues in the champions league um again won't be the first but that's something emma hayes struggled with um so no judgment there but yeah just a really strong showing from her felipe louise next one uh flamengo coach obviously after the domestic and the couple Lidlaba Todorio's wins this year and first senior management job.

36:46Unreal. And also as a person, a former Flamengo player himself, seeing off a challenge from Palmeiras, both domestically and internationally, super impressive from Filippo Luis. Chris Taylor, Vermont Green coach, as we mentioned before, definitely gets a shout for coach of the year because he put a lot of pressure on himself and he went and did it. So he massively deserves it. Another nomination is Arna Schlott. now Arnazschlott could have been nominated last season for it but it was in the middle of the season so he's getting the nomination this year for obviously winning the title with Liverpool and I feel like now as well despite the really really really tricky period they've had I think obviously my performances have been under par with everything they've had to navigate all like from the summer onwards I think returning them back to you know getting them top four or whatever I think is you know definitely validates if you like or like yeah justifies the inclusion as well as winning the league so he's in there and also I think you could put Enzo Mureska as a nominate as a quick shout as well because he you know he won the conference league he won the club world cup so I know Chelsea's form has drifted recently but you know two trophies but however there can be only one winner and I think it's unanimous yes coach of the year is Oliver Glasner because winning Palace's first major trophy, taking them into their first European campaign, solidifying them now as like a proper, proper top eight team.

38:20Which is as remarkable in its own way, in its own way as remarkable as winning an FA Cup. It's incredible. And the Community Shield as well against Liverpool. Big, big, big result. But yeah, FA Cup final against City, Community Shield against Liverpool. just coming in and delivering to such a level like everywhere he's gone he's brought that winning culture everywhere like what he did at eintracht frankfurt i didn't think he would top that but i think in some way he has now eintracht fans might dispute that because for him to in europa league of them was incredible but he was restoring greatness to eintracht frankfurt they had been at the top table before and to do that in that final against that city side yeah that was yearning for that trophy.

39:04To almost start to run it back again, despite losing Eze. Keeping hold of Gay. And that whole, I think his management of the Gay situation, I think was really impressive. It's unbelievable. Yeah. Yeah. Genuinely impressive. But yeah, just someone has been a stadio favourite from the Wolfsburg days. And I am, it's looking highly likely that he will leave Palace at the end of the season. And genuinely intrigued as to where he goes next. I'll tell you why as well. Because, can I just say, again, like, there's no way Glasner and Real Madrid are a good fit. But he's one of the people that tactically could actually do something with them.

39:46But the reason why Glasner is so amazing, if you said to anyone, oh, Palace win the FA Cup. Like, what? They're going to beat City in the final. No way. Oh, they'll do it having sold Michael Elisa. No one would believe that. I didn't even say that. No one would believe that. It's unbelievable. And when Eze looked a bit shell-shocked, the first couple of, I think the first few months after Elisa had left, and Palace fans might correct me on this, but it felt like Eze was adjusting to, like, I might not get necessarily the big move. Not that he wanted desperately Palace, not saying that, but like he might not get the spotlight.

40:26Elisa was gone. She'd lost his creative partner. I don't want to be too much into body language, but it felt like, there was a flatness around Palace I felt in those first few months after Elisa had gone because what they got in terms of chemistry was incredible I never thought like a club that size to have playmakers of a world-class level that could start really that those two those two players could start and do start actually for any team really like we've seen as a go to new level for England for Glasner to reconfigure his team's attack and get performances out of people like Saar and to take Mateta onto another level.

41:01It's, it's the job he's done there is, is exceptional. It's incredible, man. Yeah. I love it. Oliver Glasner is our coach of the year, 2025. He is indeed. He is indeed. You're up. Yes, I'm up. I'm up. The player of the year awards. Nominations for this. We'll just reel them off. There are so many, but they're all, they're equally deserving of second place because they're all that good. But I think the winner, the winner stands alone and has to, you'll see why in a moment. So the nominations are as follows. Pedri, Barcelona. I mean, obviously, Laminia Marles going in there as well. Incredible. And Rafinha.

41:38Totally, yeah. Harry Kane, Bayern Munich. Mandy Freeman, Gotham FC. Basically nominated on the football thing to be grateful for as well. Love this. Love this shot. Yep. Incredible. Captain of Gotham FC. Returning hero, Marino Caldenti for Arsenal. getting them over the line in the Champions League exceptional Kylian Mbappe for Real Madrid mentioned just because I think that we take Kylian for granted generally as a footballer Bunny Shaw for Manchester City reaching recently 100 goals for Manchester City absolutely incredible player can finish left foot right foot from distance up close a beautiful relationship with her fellow forwards can be a playmaker but most of all just a fantastic forward and in the light of the season that Shaw has had as well off the field.

42:27The performance remains at an elite level. Mo Salah. Has to be for last season. Yeah, absolutely. Just that season, otherworldly, otherworldly. Yeah, yeah. Had the hot hand throughout. Erling Hawn in Manchester City, another City player who has made the brilliant into the mundane, exceptional year. Ousmane Dembele, who has probably come the furthest in terms of achieving greatness. Dembele, who was hotly tipped as a teenager and then had some wilderness years, it felt, at Barcelona. And then just when he'd been written off, returns with that season for PSG. It's unreal. This guy was subbed off before halftime in a World Cup final.

43:07Most players, including young and mid-career players, do not come back from that psychologically. I think of all the players on the list, the resilience, the mental resilience of Isman Dembele is as high as anyone's. Itana Bonmatti for Barcelona, a perennial. Like, what was that thing that Paul Pogba said about Messi's been the best player in the world the last 15 years? It's not quite the same for Bonmatti because the women's game obviously has some other greats in it. But Bonmatti is a perennial, I think, top three in the last 10 years. Alessio Russo, if he exploits with both Arsenal and England, just had to be there because winning two huge trophies, obviously the Champions League and the Euros, but the winner the winner for the exploits in winning a national title and also taking a country back to the World Cup for the first time in almost 30 years Scott McTominay for Napoli in Scotland what a year man like what a year impossible second Serie A player in a row to win Stadio Player of the Year by the way yes and actually I think a player it's funny because those players Luckman before him Adam Luckman before him for Atalanta the journeys they've been on the journeys they've been on like if you look at the low points of these players to to win they're they're it's appropriate at christmas to have a redemption story um you mentioned it on the chris ryan show i did indeed and this is not not that mc tombe had anything to redeem it as such but if you look at like their lowest points and also to prove people wrong in the best way yeah like like mc tombe for so long i think was quite a maligned figure at manchester united and i think was played out of position this was a key part of it but would still turn up and do the work played out of position doing unpopular work and doing to the best of their ability and then getting a chance to shine as a player breaking forward for napoli in scotland and then scoring absolutely vital goals to win seriat in that in that environment to be anointed by all his fellow players to be pointed out as like that's the guy almost universally that's the guy best player unanimously win the player of the year in seriat just incredible and then to go on and do what he did with Scotland to continue the form after the summer break this man is not scoring normal goals and the thing that I the thing that I find really interesting as well is that he was posed I saw a thing the other day where he was posed a question about whether you know they were talking about other players who had left Manchester United and he was really quick to just shut that down it was almost like he wasn't having a bad word about Manchester United and I think there was such a it was just such a cool thing to do do i mean it's it's like no no i'm i'm not gonna i'm not gonna get on that you know i mean there was a loyalty there and there was a um a respect there but also i think there's a confidence like i don't need no i don't need to throw mud on a previous home i mean i don't need to do i don't need to do that we're not we're not here for that yeah yeah yeah like that doesn't have to doesn't always have to be the case you know i think it's interesting there's such a class and there's something about these nominees this year where if you look at the careers they've had i think a lot of footballers look at the journeys they've been on and they look not with envy but with a kind of yeah that's that's how the journey looks that's how it should look like you know looking at ese for example the journey as they've been on dembele to mctomine lookman before that these are all players who you look at and think you've achieved something like lasting it's not just what you've won it's the way you've done it there's a legacy there and there's a path to it and there's an integrity these players have all kind of carried themselves a certain amount of that you know Do you know what I want more than anything from McTominay for him to continue succeeding at Napoli and to retire there because there is something that's so sick by just looking at the you know teams played for it it's like seven years in Manchester United as a pro as a pro obviously he was there as a youth team but then just going to Napoli just like two clubs two clubs on a wiki page is just such a it's everything better than one club I love it when they go and they stay gone yeah I love it when they go seven years here seven or eight years there boom done career because I think now what's happening is that he is becoming more beloved from Manchester United fans because of what he's gone on to achieve so he and I think people are starting to look at his Manchester United career in a slightly different way by the end of his career he will be a fan favourite at both and I think if you are lucky enough to be a fan favourite at two clubs that's really quite special actually i think he's become someone people really root for more and more yeah for sure yeah and um yeah i feel like one of our own vibes moved away and is doing great and i will say i know he pushed back on the thing about united and whatever i think he was not trying to do united down but i also do think that his subsequent success is a sign of you have to have the right setup around you yeah it's very very hard to excel i mean bruno finance and what he's done at manchester united his numbers i mean he's someone that could have been in a different light a nominee for this award just because what he's achieved at manchester united in that chaotic setup is extraordinary yeah it's extraordinary yeah but that's for another year maybe but yeah congratulations to scott mc tomane on a remarkable season and a fully deserved win so it's that time come to the main award the one that no one wants to win slash everyone wants to win it is the catfish of the year awards 2025 the nominees are the 2026 men's world cup draw because for a while there it was looking like we weren't actually gonna get any football where's the actual Musa was on Sky News covering it being like guys we might run out of time actually they had to put me on for next to 45 minutes because there'd been no draw for the first hour and they were like the actual coverage had to go to extra time

49:17the next nominee is the mid-game interview and this was a Musa Okwanga suggestion so I'd like you to to give us the lowdown of what it was the mid-game interview okay so the concept of the catfish of the year really is you've been you provide a footballing experience which is radically different from that which was expected by the initiator right so the person originated oh wow mid-game interview this is going to provide real insight this is going to like you know take us behind the veil and actually it's like get that mic out of my face there's ongoing football so actually it was envisaged i'm sure it's like oh my goodness we're going to be going to get the footballing knowledge the insight it's actually no this is really annoying get this out of my face they tried the WSL there was like outrage from fans it's just backlash unbelievable like they're just trying to coach a game here why are you why are you giving me a headset it's absolutely ridiculous and I think it came from maybe it's inspired partly by the um you know the NFL where you've got a lot more stoppages and actually like stoppages and that's a not not a on the NFL actually just like stoppages are built into games in ways that are not necessarily in football cultural thing yeah but this is a this is a non-starter absolutely a catfish there something else which quietly seems to just get pushed under the carpet Premier League ref cam taken off elsewhere utilised in pretty good way utilised quite well in the MLS cup final oh sorry utilised well in MLS Cup Final MLS Cup Final yeah not the MLS Cup Final MLS but the MLS Cup Final I will I will fight you over that anyone but yeah just started in the Premier League was quite good for a bit and then seems to have just been yeah actually we're going to leave that I think the Premier League's up to its neck in VAR already I think there's too much yeah yeah too much tech sticking on the Premier League yes the greatest catfish league in the world the greatest Yes, yes, yes.

51:21It's the Premier League table. Because who can understand what's going on? Well, can I just say, actually, can we have an official, you know there's a comunicado official when clubs come out and make an announcement. Can we have an official, can the clubs that are actually in crisis come out and make an official announcement when they're in crisis? Yeah, and can you just stick to it for a couple of weeks? I'm pretty sure Villa were in crisis. Now they're third and they're cooking everyone. So the table, so what was, was that actually a crisis? or are they just warming up? I mean, the only club right now, and I look at the Premier League as it stands, but I can actually tell is going through it, is really going through it, is Wolves.

52:02Wolves are going through it. Burnley's struggling, but we thought they might be struggling, but really going through it is Wolves. To put Burnley's struggles in context, Burnley have scored more goals in Everton and they've scored as many goals as Sunderland. Wild. Sunderland is sick. That's what I'm telling you. This table is, it's a mess. It's a hot mess. It's a hot mess. It's a joke. It's a joke. Do you know what else is a joke? And another nominee, forward-thinking managerial changes. Look, if you're going to commit, commit. Don't be changing your mind and being like, oh, no, actually, we don't want to modernise.

52:32Oh, no, actually, we don't want to change the age profile of our management and coaching team. We actually want it like, we're going to do it. Do it. Totally. Do you know what it is? Real Madrid, right? Real Madrid appointing Xavi Alonso, right? Who may or may not be on his way out the door in the next couple of months because goodness who knows. It'll be wild if that happens. Okay, let me give you an example. Real Madrid appointing Xavi Alonso and then thinking of sacking him is a bit like, oh, we're going to have like a, it's time to sort of, you know, we're about to settle down. Let's go on a stag weekend to Ancona.

53:04We'll have a dry weekend and we'll go and like, you know, renew our sort of Catholic, our Catholic faith. We'll go to Ancona. Actually, lads, we're going to Lanzarote. Tear it all up. But like, really just like, you think you want something progressive. You think you want something enlightened or truer to yourself and then you just throw it all under the bus so like the the the ten hague appointment at leverkusen which may just have been a bad fit do you know what though that's that that escapes this categorization i think because simon rolfers came out and just like and straight away owned it was like look we actually made a mistake there but we rectified it actually do you know the only reason why we may be wrong and miss award uh well actually i can't mention him in that category because gillman's appointment at leverkusen mega is a shining example yeah yeah appointment shining it's great whereas ang was brought in at forest well maybe we'll just say like short-sighted managerial appointments yes yes yes that's the phrase myopic managerial appointments yes yes yes absolutely okay the final nominee for the catfish of the year award is the stadio catfish of the year award

54:12because this has been the most difficult year i think to to come up with an actual catfish of the year award because so many so much of what football is now is weird and unreliable that it's almost a giant catfish anyway so the the you know when like uh like the world just outgrows a format you know it's like we we wondered for a bit whether the stadio catfish of the year award was essentially going to be the mini disc of football awards yes really wow what what an idea smaller than a compact disc however a few years later gone out of here but you know i love that example in ways that you might not anticipate the reason i love that example of the mini disc is because even at the time as when being catfished in fact there's a feeling that all see it looks great but there's a there's a deep down there's a feeling that all is not quite well you just you're like it's too it's it's too good when i saw the minidisc i thought to myself because they were 74 minutes weren't they of recorded time and the tapes have been 90 minutes that was the first clue i was like hang on a minute how am i going from a cassette with 90 minutes to a cd with 74 something ain't right this this feels like do you know what the minidisc was the first time i felt the tech was catfishing me if i'm honest yeah yeah i felt it in my soul I knew.

55:31And then when it happened years later, I was like, I knew something was off. So I feel like... Stadio Catfish of the Year Award very much like when chocolate bars get more expensive, but smaller. Yes. And you're like, I gotta bid it. Oh God. However, in the end, there was actually a clear winner. And you might have remembered that I was quite bold on Stadio a few months ago saying, look, my catfish is a lock. Yeah. or a couple of months ago, sorry. And since then it's been a lock and it's not changed.

56:08The winner of the 2025 Stadio Catfish of the Year award is the La Liga game abroad.

56:20It was supposed to actually happen this time. We were convinced. The think pieces were ready. The think pieces were ready. and everyone was just like even UE4 were like look if you really want to go and do it do it and then they were like actually we can't can't do this now you may notice before I pass it to Musaw Gwanga that the Serie A game abroad isn't included in this awarding and that's because it felt like the first time that that was really mooted but there's an idea specifically yes the La Liga one has been floated for ages and we were told this time no no no but seriously this is like this is the La Liga game abroad it's the ultimate catfish it's the white whale it's waiting it's waiting for Godot it's almost literature at this point it's literary we won't see it and there's so much talk and noise and I think the thing I love about whenever these things fall apart in football there's always the same few things there's always the name of like these nondescript companies that are based if you go to their website you find like one page there right there's always like some kind of like weird consortium behind the scenes that sort of scurries out of you a bit like with the super league these football execs you've never seen before they pop their heads up they disappear again the thing about this is that something so seismic when it ended up being overturned like not happening or not going ahead or whatever you would expect it to be like a big dominant news story for a while and everyone just kind of rolled their eyes, wrote a piece and moved on.

57:52The ultimate dismissal of just unseriousness. And also, the ultimate confirmation of a thing that a significant number of people, maybe a vast majority, didn't really want. Didn't want anyway. Didn't want. I mean, to be honest, the Club World Cup was like that. It was like that as well. Like, similar thing of like, okay, this is not a, and it's current incarnation. I mean, not even so there's no place for it at all, but in this current incarnation, actually why are these extra fixtures here oh we're just doing it because we can without doubt the catfish of the year award it's the la liga game abroad i just wish they'd gone as far as actually printing not selling tickets because i don't want to be fleeced i wish they'd gone as far as actually selling tickets because those would be printing tickets but a collector's item absolute collector's item like actually now i think about it can i why we're here on catfish because the Super League obviously won one year, right?

58:48Yeah. What? Do you think they actually printed, do you think there are matchables out? Do you think there are official matchables out? They're printed already. No. If we, I'm just dreaming of. They're not that organized, dude. They're not. There's a part of me that would love to get my hands on a Super League matchable, an official one. Dude, we'll just do bootlegs.

59:10The Super Duper League, we'll call it. The Super Duper League, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah the european super duper league there you go the one that everyone wants to win what i will say though actually on a football thing and on it's uh you know what's that thing that to quote again once again the great poet uh stephen camden everything resembles the real world eventually right and the obsession with superhero movies is kind of like it's dying or it's abating and we're going back towards normality like normal humans doing incredible things the normal human stories are empowering and we're seeing that with football like you're looking like, you know, League of Ireland, like football, and like people going back to the local, maybe this is part of that backlash or this pushback.

59:49Actually, we just want something we can connect to. Yeah, yeah. And maybe one day we'll look at these things as an emblem of like, oh, actually the product overreached so far. The people, it reminded, maybe the value of the La Liga game abroad and the Super League failure, well, for the time being, is reminding people what football's for and why they love it. Maybe that's part of it. Who knows? There you go. Hope abounds. Is there anything more catfishy than hope? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, God. I'm actually going to rename the first Star Wars movie to a new catfish. A new catfish.

1:00:35Film titles. Film titles that are improved by catfish. Crouching tiger, hidden catfish. I mean let's go there before we go this is the great way to end 25 the catfish redemption right are you ready I'm going to do it right now Star Wars is the ultimate Star Wars is the ultimate Star Wars episode 1 a new catfish the catfish strikes back the return of the catfish the phantom catfish attack of the catfish revenge of the catfish the catfish awakens the last catfish and the rise of catfish alright everyone that'll do us that'll do us for the Stadios 2025 and that will do us for 2025 I want to say a big big thank you to everyone who has listened and supported and recommended us to friends and signed up for the Patreon and helped you know come with us into the scary world of independence the big beyond we really really appreciate it we don't take it for granted and we want to say a big big thank you and we hope that you like what we've got coming up in 2026 because hopefully we can do a lot more stuff and continue to grow the Patreon side of it and offer some cool stuff but yeah I just want to say a big thank you to everyone Musa anything you want to say?

1:01:57Just to thank everyone who's been with us all this time the newcomers as well and anyone that's ever spread the word about Stadio you know we're just trying to grow it uh obviously year on year so all word of mouth is greatly appreciated and to thank everyone that wrote in such beautiful um sections on things to be grateful for uh yeah it's it's lovely to see so much gratitude among our listeners for all the great things they've experienced despite the backdrop of a difficult year for so many of us yeah just a big thank you really uh to echo ryan and uh take care of yourselves throughout the last few days of this year.

1:02:36Alright everyone, Happy New Year. We'll be back on New Year's Day with a very quick episode and until then, don't forget to check the Stadio Archers place on Spotify, speaking of which we're playing out on something special by Black Axes. Anything you would like to add, Mutok Walker? Nothing further. Hey mate, see you next year. See you next year. Much love everyone. Take care.

1:03:34guitar solo All the time watching you walk down the street and hope somehow that we can meet. And you understand my point of view. Hey, you tip the guide. It's no surprise for you to walk by. You turn my eyes and I know that you're really going to be something. Ooh, you're really gonna shine I'm gonna be something Really gonna be something Really gonna be something Really gonna be something You're really gonna be someone that you love, like to have around Someone that the Lord ever may cut you down and play around Round it on

1:04:56Oh, she looks so good, she looks so fine I wanna make her mine all the time My love is for real, my love is all time You send me through changes that blow my mind Yeah, yeah Oh, yeah Oh, yeah Oh, baby