| Genre | Sports |
|---|---|
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Starring | Martin Rogers & Sophie Nicolaou |
| Air dates | since August 28th, 2009 |
| Opening theme | "Oh Sweet England" by The 253 Boys |
| Website | Official Site |
| Podcast | iTunes |
World Football Daily (formerly known as World Soccer Daily and World Soccer Weekly) is a sports radio talk show hosted by Martin Rogers and Sophie Nicolaou. The show broadcasts live on the show's official website, WorldFootballDaily.com, Monday through Friday 9–11 a.m, PST, and is later made available as a podcast. The show is streamed online live in both a video or audio-only format, and the live audio feed is given away free. When known as World Soccer Daily, it aired live on weekdays 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. PST on Sirius Channel 125. After the show left Sirius in August 2009, it returned as a web-only, subscription-based show through the show's official website.
The hosts discuss a broad range of topics related to association football. The primary topics discussed include the Premier League; UEFA Champions League; FIFA World Cup, including qualification; United States men's national soccer team, and England national football team.
Contents |
In 2002, Steven Cohen and Nick Geber founded Soccer Weekly Inc, with Cohen acting as CEO and Geber as President. The two began hosting World Soccer Weekly on Fox Sports Radio in Los Angeles, California. As the show grew into new markets and became a weekly show the name was eventually re-titled World Soccer Daily. On February 26, 2007, it was announced on air that sometime in April 2007 Geber would be leaving the show in order to pursue other projects, including an expanded format for his current Bluff Magazine poker radio program. It was announced at the time that he would instead become the first option fill-in host, while Howard Rogers, the previous first option fill-in host, would be taking over Nick's duties as full time co-host.
In March 2007, Cohen and Geber were featured in FourFourTwo, a British association football magazine. They were also in the Australian and American edition. The radio show is the top soccer-related show in North America, and at one point was one of the top 10 most popular sports podcasts on iTunes.
On February 5, 2008, Steven parted ways with Howard Rogers. Kenny Hassan replaced Rogers as co-host.
Host Steven Cohen has faced criticism as a result of statements he has made in regards to the Hillsborough Disaster in which he stated that the Liverpool fans were the root cause and perpetrators of the incident.[1]. This sparked a boycott of the show as well as a letter-writing campaign to the shows sponsors by certain Liverpool supporters groups.[2] Cohen cancelled World Soccer Daily on August 21, 2009.
On August 27, 2009 it was announced via their web site that World Football Daily would launch on August 31, 2009 as a new program. The new format for the show was launched with the intent to "change the way football is discussed by bringing a football show of the people, for the people and by the people straight to the people"[3] The show is now run on a subscription service.
The change to the subscription service brought a different format than that of World Soccer Daily. World Football Daily became much more guest oriented bringing in the top journalists from around the globe to fulfill the "World" aspect of the game in their title. They have also brought on many players and managers from the Barclay's Premier League including the likes of Harry Redknapp, Roberto Martinez, Chris Hughton, Mick McCarthy, Alan Smith, Micah Richards, and Shay Given, just to name a few.
World Football Daily has also brought an expansive coverage of the domestic game in the United States. They regularly have guests from Major League Soccer and the United States Men's National Team. They have brought on all major U.S. players including -- Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Brad Guzan, Brek Shea, Jay DeMerit, and many more.
The show still regularly takes calls from its fans around the world in addition to bringing on the top guests from the world's game.
Steven Cohen left the show due to personal reasons on April 1, 2011 and left the show to be hosted solely by Kenny Hassan. World Football Daily were looking for new co-hosts from the moment of Cohen's departure but producers could never find the right mix which led to Hassan constantly claiming the 'present formula' of the show would never work and would ultimately end in the show losing money and more importantly, the global credibility it once had. In May of the same year, Robert Burns and Sophie Nicolaou alternated from show to show to see who most deserved the co-hosting position. The Burns/Nicolaou rotation was received fairly well based on Burns knowledge of the game and stayed all the way through the end of September and no decision was made as to who the permanent replacement would be. Hassan then suddenly departed from the show which led to speculation that his previous comments were now becoming apparent. His sudden departure, which was on September 26, 2011, three days after he announced he would leave the show, led Burns and Nicolaou to take over both positions of co-host. The pair continued together for just over one month then it was announced on October 27, 2011 that Martin Rogers of Yahoo! Sports would take the lead hosting position. This led to an audience revolt based on Rogers having no lead experience and little knowledge of the game outside the English Premier League. The subscription based show that Cohen/Hassan built started to see a major decline in revenue leading to rumors that the show would close in the spring of 2012. (Rogers was brought on as a guest host twice during Kenny's sole reign as host). Rogers permanently took the lead-host role on November 1, 2011 and it was decided that Robert Burns would leave the show, leaving the co-host position to Nicolaou.
In addition to the show's regular staff and hosts, a number of guests often make appearances as fill-in hosts. Guest hosts of the past include former full-time WSD host Nick Geber, ESPN's Georgie Bingham, Howard Rogers, Sir Harvey Cohen (Steven's father) and Fox Soccer Channel's Nick Webster.
In early 2008, World Soccer Daily increased the frequency of guest appearances on the show. These guests include:
And in an effort live up to its name and expand its coverage beyond the Premier League, the show has brought on a number of regular foreign correspondents. These include: