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Liam Payne presents new football podcast

By | Published on Thursday 14 January 2021

FIFA PlayOn Podcast with Liam Payne

Liam Payne has announced that he is releasing… a podcast, obviously. Only losers put out music these days. It’s not just any old podcast though. This is a football podcast. It’s going to be called the FIFA PlayOn Podcast.

It’s part of FIFA’s new FIFA Sound initiative, which aims to “create innovative and meaningful connections between football fans, music enthusiasts, players, artists, and the game and songs they all love”. I’m not sure how many times you can discuss the cultural significance of ‘Vindaloo’. I guess it’s possible they’ll find something else to talk about eventually.

Payne has been drafted in because the whole thing is being put together by Universal Music Group For Brands – a division of Universal that does music stuff for brands. As you may have guessed from the name. I know I did. And Payne, of course, is signed to Universal’s Capitol label.

The PlayOn Podcast will see Payne and co-host Jaydee Dyer talk to a footballer and a musician who has inspired them. They’ll then try to find some sort of common ground between the sporty and musical guests. Hopefully there’ll just be 30 awkward minutes of a musician trying to find different ways to say, “I don’t really like football”.

If that is the case, Payne isn’t letting on. Announcing the show, he says: “I can’t wait for everyone to hear what we’ve been working on with FIFA. The PlayOn Podcast has been such a journey – it’s been awesome having these incredible players and special guests come together and exchange life experiences from both on and off the pitch, all through the lens of music”.

Olivier Robert-Murphy, Executive Vice President of Universal Music Group For Brands, adds of the wider FIFA partnership: “We’re delighted to be able to launch this collaboration between FIFA and Universal Music Group, which brings together two of the world’s biggest and most influential passion points – football and music – to create a series of unique fan experiences”.

“Starting with the launch of the PlayOn Podcast series”, he goes on, “these initiatives will showcase the symbiosis and shared bonds between the world’s best footballers and musicians alongside the fans that idolise them globally”.

PlayOn is available from wherever you normally get podcasts, or by screaming “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!” at a One Direction poster.



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