GOAL Launches Two World Cup Podcasts on The Icons and Legacies of Previous Tournaments Featuring the Iconic Voice of Martin Tyler

Footballco’s global football media brand, GOAL, has launched the first of two new podcast series for the 2026 World Cup. Focused on the icons and legacies of previous tournaments. The series represents the start of GOAL’s build-up to the 2026 World Cup with global editorial content unified under Footballco's WCHQ brand.

ICONS

Launching today (December 4th), ICONS is a ten-episode series, voiced by Tyler, that covers iconic elements from the past 10 World Cups, dating back to Mexico '86.

Each former World Cup is retold through the lens of an iconic moment that came to define that tournament, including Ronaldo Nazário’s famous World Cup 2002 haircut, Adidas’ 2010 Jabulani ball, and the incredible story behind Argentina’s shirts at the 1986 World Cup, bought bootleg from a Tepito street market and worn by the team during competition.

Martin Tyler said: “I’ve been fortunate enough to have commentated on 12 World Cups, dating back to Argentina ‘78, so I know only too well how the World Cup can create icons and stories like nothing else in football.

“I’m excited to be working with GOAL to bring these stories to life, some of which I wasn’t even aware of, ahead of the biggest World Cup ever next year.”

LEGACY

ICONS will be followed by LEGACY, which kicks off on December 16 with 26 episodes to be published between then and the start of the 2026 World Cup. The series explores World Cup lore and national identity, with chapters focused on football dynasties including England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, France, the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Ghana, Egypt, Senegal, the Netherlands, Morocco, and Uruguay.

Topics covered include Spain’s history of wonderkid standouts, Italy’s recent exile from international success, and the 2002 tournament that proved America could field a competitive squad.

Each of the thirty-six total episodes, which will also be available as feature stories on GOAL, have been researched and written by GOAL’s global pool of in-region journalists in ten different languages, bringing a fresh and unique perspective to World Cup history.

The World Cup in Eight Languages

Both Icons and Legacy will be published in eight languages, with English narration for Icons coming from Tyler and Legacy being narrated by seasoned narrator and actor, Tom Watt.

Localised versions will also be available in Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, and French.

While seven of the eight local language editions of both podcasts will be voiced by native speakers, the French versions will be narrated by a member of GOAL’s Brazilian edition in Portuguese and transformed into French using ElevenLabs synthetic (AI) voice software, which retains the emotion, tone, timing, and unique delivery of each speaker, creating a narration indistinguishable from a human reading and checked for accuracy by GOAL’s editorial team.

James Lamon, EVP of Content and Operations at Footballco, said: “The World Cup is a storied event with drama unlike any other tournament in sport. As the world’s leading football brand, GOAL is able to leverage our football expertise and storytelling might to create an immersive narrative experience for fans. Whether this is your first or tenth tournament, our series are essential listening ahead of kick off next June.

“While we’re excited to be able to work with seasoned narrators Martin Tyler and Tom Watt, we’re also looking forward to sharing these audio stories with more fans across the world through AI. AI translation, synthetic voice design, and sound design have enabled us to take the best reporting from our news teams and make their work native to every language and country we reach. We are excited to blend the best of human storytelling with AI advantages, delivering an end result that more fans will enjoy in more formats than otherwise possible.

Each series will run until next year’s World Cup in July, when, after a brief hiatus, both will return to cover other football legacies and icons from other tournaments, leagues, and competitions.