Spotify UK adds Football Now playlist

Today Spotify UK has launched ‘Football Now’, a one stop location for a personalised daily roundup of the best football content available on Spotify, including brand new Spotify Original podcast The Teamsheet with Ivo Graham.

Just in time for the highly anticipated European football tournament, the new playlist will feature the very best of football podcasts alongside curated commentary from special celebrity guests and personalised music selections, so fans can stay abreast of the news and views around the beautiful game. And we’re seeing excitement reach fever pitch, with global streams of England’s now-traditional football anthem Three Lions having more than doubled in the last week alone.

Over the past two years, football podcasts in the UK have seen an incredible uplift of 166% as fans look to consume more and more content, with the number of listeners more than doubling over that period to over 240,000. After London, Birmingham is the most football-mad city, closely followed by Bristol and Manchester, while the Scots are loving their national team’s current success with Glasgow and Edinburgh listeners also tuning in to the football podcasts.

Whether you are a football fanatic or new to the game, listeners can expect original content from a range of top podcasts, including Wrighty’s House, The Stadio Podcast, GIANT and brand new Spotify Original The Teamsheet. In The Teamsheet, guest hosts including Ivo Graham and Anita Nneka Jones will be joined by famous football legends to build their own dream five-a-side, poring over every selection across the week with the hosts there to question every dodgy inclusion along the way.

Comedian Ivo Graham, one of the hosts of new podcast The Teamsheet said: “Ahead of the most consistently jeopardised and as such the most emotionally invested summer of sport most of us have ever known, it’s a delight to be part of Spotify’s veritable buffet of new football content. Interviewing guests about their fantasy five-a-sides for the Teamsheet has been, at least personally, a delightful aperitif to the Football Now coverage of the Euros, which should hopefully provide a whole host of hipster choices for future episodes.”

Former footballer and pundit Ian Wright, host of Spotify Original podcast Wrighty’s House, said: “With so much going on during the next month, The Football Now playlist will just pull everything you need into one place, making it easy for you to get up to speed with the tournament. We’ll be recording Wrighty’s House which will be included in the playlist throughout the tournament and we’ll do some special recordings after England games so pop in!”

No matter how you like to consume your football news, Spotify’s Football Now is the ultimate destination, making life easier by pulling everything together for all your football needs.

Spotify’s most popular football podcasts you might find in your Football Now playlist include:

• Wrighty’s House (Spotify Original) - Former Arsenal and England National Team striker and BBC Match of the Day pundit Ian Wright is joined by a rotating panel of friends and special guests to discuss the latest football headlines, as well as the broader social issues impacting the sport and the world at large.
• GIANT (Spotify Exclusive) - A weekly podcast bringing your football stories that matter, told by the people who were there. This audio documentary series takes listeners deep into the stories they might know, think they know or definitely should know. It’s as much about people as it is penalties, life as it is legends, and emotion as it is extra-time.
• Football Legends (Spotify Original) - Football Legends bring you the real stories from the beautiful game. Hosted by Robbie Knox (Soccer AM) and Martin Gritton (former footballer), along with the authors of Booked!, Dan Trelfer and John Smith, this podcast takes a story from a legendary ex-player’s autobiography and dissects it.
• Ringer FC - Ringer FC is the podcast home for all things football. On Mondays and Tuesday catch ‘Stadio’, hosted by Ryan Hunn and Musa Okwonga, two long-time friends, covering the major European football leagues and a lot more.

James Cator, Spotify UK and Ireland, Head of Studios said: “Sports is one of the fastest growing genres for podcasts and football is our national game in the UK - so it’s no surprise that we’ve seen a 166% uplift in listenership of football podcasts on Spotify over the past two years. With it being such a huge passion point of our audience, we wanted to offer a personalised experience where fans can get all of their favourite content in one place - which is why we’ve launched Football Now just in time for the tournament starting this weekend. We’ve already seen great success with listeners making their personalised playlists like Your Daily Wellness and Your Daily Drive an essential part of their days - so expect Football Now to become that key daily destination for all your football podcast and music needs.”