Damiano Benzoni, Italian journalist and seasoned groundhopper, has written a wonderful book - an "emotive map of football in Berlin," a rich portrait of a city through the eyes of football. And when that city happens to be the German capital, torn by wars, shaped by the dvide between two Germanies and various migrant influences, the texture of such a book happens to be particularly interesting. The book, for now, is available only in Italien, so consider this an English language exclusive.
We also get an update on SC Freiburg's last season. And just to scare the right people away, an Austrian workers' song that dovetails wonderfully with Gabriel Kuhn's engaging portrait of a social democratic soccer utopia from Spring.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Book website (Urbone Publishing)
Damiano Benzoni on X and Instagram
Biberstand Boys - Unioner im Haus (YouTube) - this is an anti-Union song, mind you!
Die Arbeiter von Wien - Austrian workers' song (YouTube), with English lyrics
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If you enjoy this podcast and think that what I do fills a gap in soccer coverage that others would be interested in as well, please
- Recommend The Assistant Professor of Football. Spreading the word, through word of mouth, truly does help.
- Leave some rating stars at the podcast platform of your choice. There are so many sports podcasts out there, and only ratings make this project visible; only then can people who look for a different kind of take on European soccer actually find me.
Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/
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