Three years after we first launched the award-winning Football Belongs podcast series, Matilda Emma Checker is our guest and author Fiona Crawford reprises her role in this special bonus episode.

They join series inspiration and author John Didulica and our host David Davutovic as they discuss the revolution that has swallowed Australia throughout the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™. After an earlier episode of Football Belongs about a women's match that never happened - this time we are talking about a match that did happen: Canada v Australia, in Melbourne on 31st July 2023, as well as:

• The (very-much-welcomed) excitement capturing those who would otherwise have looked past the game
• Why the Matildas have emerged as a universally-loved group of players
• The incredible legacy this World Cup is creating - and how we leverage this moving forward
• Can we finally say that football is Australia's national sport?

Edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Watch every match of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™ live and on-demand on Optus Sport.

Listen to Optus Sport's award-winning limited series: Football Belongs, charting the cultural threads of Australian society through the lens of nine football matches:

Acast: https://play.acast.com/s/football-belongs

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2AzBek8ub2oEsWLYHWetg7

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/football-belongs-australias-football-identity-by-optus/id1543067162

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The incredible limited series from Optus Sport, Football Belongs, hosted by David Davutovic and authored by John Didulica, and featuring a host of prominent sporting personalities in this country, has been nominated for two awards in the upcoming 2021 Australian Podcast Awards:

• Best Sports Podcast
• Best Indigenous Podcast

If you haven't yet taken the time to soak up the depth of this series, here is a short taste of what you can hear throughout. Or, if you are ready to rip in, click here to listen: https://play.acast.com/s/football-belongs

Football Belongs.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, Matildas great Kate Gill and journalist Francis Leach are our special guests, as we close out the Football Belongs podcast series.

They join series inspiration John Didulica and our host David Davutovic in a passionate discussion on:

• Looking forward to the future of the game in Australia
• The event that could create a new path

How will the game and its people earn a legitimate place in Australian life? Can football become 'mainstream'?

If you haven't already, we urge you to visit Optus Sport's digital platforms to read the chapters - authored by John Didulica - that tell a deeper story, of which this podcast barely scratches the surface. Click here: https://sport.optus.com.au/category/articles

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the penultimate episode of the series, former Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, Football Australia chairman Chris Nikou and sports reporter Richard Hinds join John Didulica and David Davutovic to discuss football in this country through the lens of a particular match. This episode looks at:

• The incredible 2015 Asian Cup campaign and gripping final between Australia and South Korea
• A concept that a critical thread of being Australian is tracking our success at major sporting events

Don't miss our final episode in coming weeks where we wrap up an incredible series with another stable of great guests.

To read the chapters authored by John Didulica, visit https://sport.optus.com.au/category/articles

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matildas greats Kate Gill and Tal Karp plus current star Tameka Yallop, along with esteemed writer and academic Fiona Crawford, join John Didulica and David Davutovic for a strong-hearted discussion about the gulf that was (partially) bridged after a brave move by a group of Aussie football players.

In this episode:

• The match between USA v Australia in Detroit, Michigan in September 2015, and why the Matildas didn't play
• The power of unity and solidarity in trying to break down disparity
• Equality in sport, how it has changed, and what still remains to be done

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Esteemed football historian & author Roy Hay and researcher & blogger Paul Mavroudis join John Didulica and David Davutovic for the latest instalment of Football Belongs. The match in focus is a day in 1964 when the VFL All-Stars took on Slavia-Port Melbourne, in front of tens of thousands of fans at Olympic Park.

Some incredible stories feature in this episode, including:

• How the game of Australian Rules has continued to impact the game of football in Victoria.
• A classic yarn about a sequel to the above game, in 1991, where the 'Aussies' took on 'the wogs' - and who came out on top.

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are still four incredible episodes to come in the limited edition Football Belongs series, in which John Didulica and David Davutovic will be joined by a host of engaging personalities to speak on these truly important topics.

If you haven't already, here's your chance to catch up on the first six episodes, as well as make your way through the chapters that have been compiled by John Didulica

You can find the chapters on the Optus Sport app, or visit https://sport.optus.com.au/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ros Moriarty and Travis Dodd are the special guests on this episode of Football Belongs, as they join John Didulica and David Davutovic to have a powerful conversation about:

• The outrageous notion of Aussie football superstar John Moriarty being selected to represent his country - before being allowed to vote
• An unheralded role football and its migrant communities played in embracing the First Nations people
• The Socceroos’ 1960 tour of South-East Asia - and why it was cancelled
• Difficulties faced by Indigenous culture and football culture in gaining legitimacy and acceptance in mainstream Australia.

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cultural cringe: it runs through our entire cultural and political zeitgeist in Australia, and as former Socceroo Paul Trimboli and broadcaster Francis Leach join John Didulica and David Davutovic, they discuss this in detail, including:

• The 81 minute 'classic' between Australia and AC Milan at Princes Park in 1993
• How cultural cringe played a part in Ange Postecoglou's shock 2017 Socceroos exit
• Why Paul Trimboli is Australian football's version of Forrest Gump
• The synergies between local football and Australian cinema

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Australia has been shaped by a persistent - often irrational - obsession with borders.

As an accompaniment to the next chapter in the Football Belongs series: "Borders", which you can read at https://sport.optus.com.au/, John Didulica and David Davutovic are joined by broadcaster and Socceroos great Craig Foster for a deep and moving discussion on:

• The early days of the fledgling National Soccer League - and what it represented then and now
• Border issues we are facing today that have been consistent threads in our history
• Australia's role in an incredible campaign to Save Hakeem - and why it was football that had the sensibility to undertake that campaign

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Legend of ANZAC sits in the awareness of most Australians. But why is it that football seems to be left behind in the conversation, when the game has such a rich history with the ANZAC spirit?

John Didulica and David Davutovic are joined by Socceroos legend Ray Baartz and Victoria University academic and author Ian Syson to discuss:

• The Socceroos' 3-2 win over South Korea in the final of the 1967 National Day Tournament in Vietnam - Australia's first ever international football trophy
• How the 1915 landing at Gallipoli created a national ritual and identity
• The commercialisation of the ANZAC spirit, and how it has seen football relegated in celebrations

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Davutovic and John Didulica are joined by Socceroos legend John Aloisi and Australian public policy academic and author Andrew Wear to continue the conversation on multiculturalism. In this episode, the focus is on one particular game: that epic 2006 FIFA World Cup match between Australia and Croatia.

HEAR:

• The dilemma a large contingent of Croatian-Australians faced
• How one match showed the power a sporting moment can have on an entire country
• A precious family connection for John Didulica and his brother's incredible gesture for their grandfather

and

• John Aloisi's candid recollection about a moment from that day, that very few know about - which counts as one of his great memories of the campaign

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Davutovic and John Didulica are joined by renowned football media personalities Andy Harper and Tracey Holmes to set the scene for the series.

The group discuss multiculturalism in Australia, ask why the world game has struggled to gain a foothold across the country, how British colonialism adversely affected its impact, and they touch on seminal moments including:

• The Socceroos' 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign
• AC Milan's infamous tour of Australia in 1993
• The Matildas' 2015 friendly against USA

and

• Australia's abandoned 1960 tour of South-East Asia

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Arriving 4th December: Optus Sport's new instalment of the Football Belongs title: a podcast series charting the cultural threads of Australian society through the lens of nine football matches.

Produced & edited by Lucas Perry, Optus Sport.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.