Every week, we take one story from football's hidden history and tell it properly: the cartels that bought Colombia's clubs, the dictator who threatened his own World Cup squad, the political prisoners who built a football association inside apartheid's most notorious jail, the man who spent twenty years as a professional footballer without really playing.
These are stories where football isn't just the backdrop. It's where power, crime, politics, faith and identity collide, and where the game itself changes what happens next. Each episode goes back into the history that shaped the story, the people caught up in it, and the side stories that most accounts leave out.
Some episodes are dark. Some are absurd. All of them are true.
New episodes every week.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
]]>Every week, we take one story from football's hidden history and tell it properly: the cartels that bought Colombia's clubs, the dictator who threatened his own World Cup squad, the political prisoners who built a football association inside apartheid's most notorious jail, the man who spent twenty years as a professional footballer without really playing.
These are stories where football isn't just the backdrop. It's where power, crime, politics, faith and identity collide, and where the game itself changes what happens next. Each episode goes back into the history that shaped the story, the people caught up in it, and the side stories that most accounts leave out.
Some episodes are dark. Some are absurd. All of them are true.
New episodes every week.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
]]>Medellín had Pablo Escobar and Atlético Nacional. Bogotá had Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha and Millonarios. Cali had the Rodríguez Orjuela brothers and América. Cocaine money poured into transfer fees, wages and stadiums, and for a few years Colombian football got better than it had ever been. Nacional became the first Colombian club to win the Copa Libertadores. A generation of players emerged who would take the national team to places it had never been.
But the money came with a price, and referees, players and officials were the ones who paid it. In this first episode of Always Gold, we tell the story of narco-fútbol from the ground up: who Pablo Escobar was and how he built his empire, why the cartels wanted football so badly, the season that had to be cancelled after a linesman was murdered, a goalkeeper who visited Escobar in his own private prison, and a 5–0 night in Buenos Aires that made the whole world pay attention.
This is the story of how a country's football was built, and nearly destroyed, by the same hands.
Always Gold is a podcast about the untold and hidden history of football. New episodes every week.
Further Reading / Show Links
Episode Tags
football history, soccer history, Colombia, Pablo Escobar, narcos, narco-fútbol, Medellín cartel, Cali cartel, Atlético Nacional, Millonarios, América de Cali, René Higuita, Copa Libertadores, Álvaro Ortega, Colombian football, cocaine, organised crime, South American football, true crime, football podcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
]]>Medellín had Pablo Escobar and Atlético Nacional. Bogotá had Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha and Millonarios. Cali had the Rodríguez Orjuela brothers and América. Cocaine money poured into transfer fees, wages and stadiums, and for a few years Colombian football got better than it had ever been. Nacional became the first Colombian club to win the Copa Libertadores. A generation of players emerged who would take the national team to places it had never been.
But the money came with a price, and referees, players and officials were the ones who paid it. In this first episode of Always Gold, we tell the story of narco-fútbol from the ground up: who Pablo Escobar was and how he built his empire, why the cartels wanted football so badly, the season that had to be cancelled after a linesman was murdered, a goalkeeper who visited Escobar in his own private prison, and a 5–0 night in Buenos Aires that made the whole world pay attention.
This is the story of how a country's football was built, and nearly destroyed, by the same hands.
Always Gold is a podcast about the untold and hidden history of football. New episodes every week.
Further Reading / Show Links
Episode Tags
football history, soccer history, Colombia, Pablo Escobar, narcos, narco-fútbol, Medellín cartel, Cali cartel, Atlético Nacional, Millonarios, América de Cali, René Higuita, Copa Libertadores, Álvaro Ortega, Colombian football, cocaine, organised crime, South American football, true crime, football podcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
]]>