World Football Daily

World Football Daily
Genre Sports
Running time 90 minutes
Country United States 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.

History of the show

World Soccer Daily

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.

Controversy and cancellation

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.

World Football Daily

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 Martínez, 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.

Change of Hosts

Steven Cohen left the show due to personal reasons on April 1, 2011. Kenny Hassan left the show due to personal reasons in late 2011. The show continued with co-host replacements, Robert Burns and Sophie Nicolaou. 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. Rogers permanently took the lead-host role on November 1, 2011 replacing Robert Burns, leaving the co-host position to Nicolaou.

Show personnel

Current

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.

Guests and correspondents

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:

Former personnel

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Cohen's lies". 2009. Retrieved October 30, 2009.
  2. ↑ , North American LFC Fan Club Official Boycott
  3. ↑ http://www.worldfootballdaily.com/
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