The Sweeper

📺 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 📺 🇮🇷 Iran to withdraw from World Cup? 🇲🇽 Group-stage relocation to Mexico? 🇺🇸 Round of 32 tie v. USA in Texas on 3 July? 🔁 Precedents for tournament withdrawals 🇮🇶🇦🇪 The leading replacement contenders Watch or listen on Spotify, Apple or YouTube! 🤩

If you enjoyed this thread, be sure to follow us. We tell stories from every corner of the football world - that's all 211 FIFA countries and beyond - daily. And check out our podcast. Episodes come out every Tuesday with content you won't find anywhere else. It can be found in all the usual places.

8/8 - Academy Lampedusa Calcio The island of Lampedusa, which is sadly best known as a landing ground for migrants, has a club down in the lower tiers: Academy Lampedusa Calcio. Travel to away games, which is often disrupted by the weather, costs approximately €35-40k per season in their Sicilian regional league.

🇮🇹 Lower-league football is fascinating across Europe - but nowhere quite captures the attention like Italy, which is a goldmine for crazy stories. From mafia infiltrations and dolphin designs to foreign entities and refugee islands, here are eight clubs outside Serie A you should know about. THREAD 🧵

If you enjoyed this thread, be sure to follow us. We tell stories from every corner of the football world - that's all 211 FIFA countries and beyond - daily. And check out our podcast. Episodes come out every Tuesday with content you won't find anywhere else, and can be found in all the usual places.

8/8 - Island-hopping away days 🏝️ Even though they are neighbours in the West Frisian Islands, Geel Wit vs. Terschelling in the lower leagues is one of the longest Dutch away days. The teams must travel by ferry via the mainland, which takes around five hours - the same time it takes roughly to drive between the two furthest-apart points on the mainland.

🇳🇱 The Eredivisie usually grabs the headlines in the Netherlands, but the rest of the pyramid has thrown up some truly amazing moments recently. From Bible Belt antics to pine cone trophies and referee goal celebrations, here are eight stories from the Dutch lower leagues you should know about. THREAD 🧵