There are few sports that have the power to captivate a critical mass of the global population quite like soccer (aka football) does. And every four years, fans rally behind their nations and experience the highs and lows of the beautiful game in one of the biggest tournaments in the world.
As hype builds for the tournament in Qatar this November, Brian Phillips, Senior Staff Writer for The Ringer, is taking time to revisit some of the most memorable and significant goals of past competitions in the new Spotify Original Podcast 22 Goals.
Premiering today, the weekly podcast will explore those moments on the field that brought joy-or despair-to entire nations. But the show also dives into the cultural impact each of these 22 goals had off the pitch, highlighting how they continue to transcend the game itself.
For the Record sat down with Brian to discuss the inspiration behind the podcast, why big goals leave such an indelible mark on soccer fans, and what listeners can expect from the show as it leads up to the start of the tournament.
Traditionally, lists of great soccer goals have come in video form. What inspired you to explore this idea as a podcast? It's interesting that you ask that question because I was telling my dental hygienist about this podcast, and he was like, That's the worst thing I've ever heard. Nobody wants to listen to you describe the goals with words. But the more I thought about it, I do think that podcasting is the right form for what I'm doing here, because what I really want to do is explore the joy of the game.
A video series can provide a hit of joy really directly because you get to watch the goal and it's like, Oh my God, that's an amazing goal. But I wanted space to talk about where those moments came from and what they mean and how they kind of filter into society and culture. And so the podcast form makes more sense because you can have a longer meditation and talk to listeners in a very intimate or informal way.
It's fascinating that some of the most legendary goals often become more memorable than the matches themselves. Why is it that a single goal has the ability to captivate fans in this way? There are goals that seem more memorable than the matches and there are goals that overshadow loss. I'm thinking about the goal that Netherlands midfielder Dennis Bergkamp scored against Argentina in '98. It's a match that the Netherlands didn't win, and they fell short at the World Cup as they usually end up doing. But that goal just kind of stands out as such a beautiful thing that it almost seems like the rest of the tournament and the rest of the drama kind of fades around just that one moment.
I think soccer has a couple of things going for it that makes it really well suited to provide these kinds of transcendent, euphoric just out-of-your-head sort of experiences. I think for one thing, it's really hard to score in soccer. There's this kind of frustration algorithm at work where you're building up this anticipation for tens of minutes at a time while teams are trying to score. And then when it finally happens, even a relatively routine goal feels like a huge deal. I think the other thing is that soccer is probably the closest we come to a sport that is universal. So when something big happens in a World Cup, it's like a breakthrough that you're sharing with a vast percentage of the world's population. It's a recipe for these moments to become meaningful.
As fans sit down and listen to each episode, what can they expect in terms of storytelling? Each goal is like the climax of a story. And so the episodes are really just about telling those stories and trying to use those stories to talk about things that were going on in the history of soccer, history of the world, around those moments. But mostly it's just like if you take the goal as the high point of a story, then what is the story that comes before that, and how does it lead to this? We all know the moment is coming. In most of the episodes, I say at the very beginning, This is the goal. And you know what the ending is in advance, but it's just about the journey.
Every goal on this list is obviously well-known to some extent, but are there any with a mythology or backstory that might surprise fans? I think it's probably the case that the older the goal is, the less people will know about it. Particularly for fans like me who didn't grow up with the game and caught the train fairly late. So one goal that I think American listeners are going to really enjoy hearing about is, it was scored by Joe Gaetjens in 1950. He was a Haitian player who played due to some weird loopholes at the time for the U.S. national team. And he scored a goal that allowed the United States to accomplish perhaps the biggest upset in World Cup history. And I just don't think most people in America know about it. I didn't even know about it until fairly recently. I feel like people are going to really flip over it because it's an incredible story.
And then the other episode that comes to mind is about England in 1966 and the goal scored by Geoff Hurst that helped them win the World Cup. But a whole lot of that episode focuses on the history of the theft of the World Cup trophy in London, when it was on display at a stamp exhibition. There was this whole heist and it vanished. And then it was rediscovered in a really fun way. That's a pretty well-known story for a lot of people, but I think it's just so kooky and fun that people are going to get into that.
Do you have any predictions for who might score the next iconic goal in Qatar later this year? Before I answer that question, I should acknowledge that there are literally octopi who have a better record of predicting World Cup outcomes. The future is
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
28/01/2026
As demand for more complex live sports coverage grows, Balkan broadcast specialist MVP has upgraded its flagship HD1 progressive OB truck with the installation ...
28/01/2026
Luxembourg, January 26, 2026 - SES S.A. ( SES or the Company ), a leading space solutions company, acknowledges the credit rating action announced by Fitch to...
28/01/2026
Stadtwerke Wolfhagen Modernize Customer Management with AEP.energysuite from Arv...
27/01/2026
Click for Japanese version
Tokyo, Japan - January 27, 2026 - Akamai Technolo...
27/01/2026
Today, Spotify is proud to support our partner Backline, an industry-leading men...
27/01/2026
With nearly 29 million monthly listeners and clear momentum on Spotify, Net n Ve...
27/01/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
27/01/2026
New agreement for uninterrupted UHF connectivity for Australian Defence Force through 2033, With Options Extending to 2041
Luxembourg, January 13, 2026 - Satel...
27/01/2026
Tuesday 27 January 2026
SNL UK creative team expands as Pauli Lovejoy, Annie Ha...
27/01/2026
RT Supporting the Arts is delighted to support a dynamic programme of cultural events taking place across Ireland this February. From visual art, film, music, ...
26/01/2026
Music videos play a huge part in how fans connect with their favorite songs, but...
26/01/2026
Wuppertal January 26, 2026
Riedel and Media Tailor Deliver Unified Broadcast a...
26/01/2026
26 Jan 2026
VEON Unveils the New Beeline Uzbekistan Network Operations Center, ...
26/01/2026
Bookish is created by and stars Mark Gatiss
Images available HERE
Following th...
26/01/2026
Monday 26 January 2026
New Sky Original Series explores Entertainment Juggernaut, The X Factor
Sky today confirmed it has greenlit a premium, definitive docum...
26/01/2026
Monday 26 January 2026
Sky confirms major investment to transform Livingston ca...
26/01/2026
Software for Stable Data Management and Lasting Business Success in Uncertain Ti...
26/01/2026
RT is today publishing a statistical summary of the Register of External Activities for the third quarter of 2025.
The RT Register of External Activities com...
24/01/2026
RT and Virgin Media Television kick off comprehensive free-to-air coverage of t...
23/01/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 29 July, 2025 - Yospace, the global leader in Dynamic A...
23/01/2026
Spotify's annual Best New Artist celebration honors the rising stars whose talent, creativity, and dedication have propelled them to the music industry'...
23/01/2026
Paramount is transforming its operations by unifying the media supply chains of their top brands into a scalable global pipeline.
This transformation enhances ...
23/01/2026
Every delay costs. When a subtitle fails QC, even the smallest issue can mean missed deadlines, extra vendor costs, or frustrated teams. The new Accurate.Video ...
23/01/2026
Find out where Sare and Suze are now on RT One and RT Player Thursday 29 January at 10.15pm
Hit drama SisterS, created by, written by and starring real-life ...
23/01/2026
Friday 23 January 2026
Sky appoints Lisa Clark as Commissioning Executive for SNL UK
Lisa Clark headshot
PNG (468KB)
Lisa Clark joins Sky as Commissioning E...
23/01/2026
RT is delighted to announce that the RT and F s ireann / Screen Ireland supported short film Retirement Plan has been nominated for Best Animated Short at th...
22/01/2026
Last November, Ed Sheeran returned to his musical roots for an intimate, one-nig...
22/01/2026
Every delay costs. When a subtitle fails QC, even the smallest issue can mean missed deadlines, extra vendor costs, or frustrated teams. The new Accurate.Video ...
22/01/2026
Thursday 29 January 9:35pm on RT 2 and RT Player
The dating show returns with something old, something new and a dater you may already know
Thursday evenings...
22/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz, Qualcomm, and Motorola demonstrate successful 5G Broadcast comp...
22/01/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
21/01/2026
Wednesday 21 January 2026
Backing Britain on the global stage: Sky becomes an o...
21/01/2026
Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Resul...
21/01/2026
Baselight v7 brings colourists and post-houses smarter mattes, faster workflows and deeper control
FilmLight, known for its detailed colour toolset and longsta...
21/01/2026
RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of Jackie Fox as its new Washington Correspondent. Jackie is a multimedia journalist with RT News and has repor...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
16/01/2026
The start of a new year brings fresh possibilities. Whether you're diving in with big goals or simply setting new intentions, audiobooks can bring inspirati...
16/01/2026
In 2025 we launched the Spotify Partner Program to give creators more ways to tu...
15/01/2026
The SGL Carbon site in Bonn has a long tradition of training. For many years, young talent has been successfully trained here, regularly achieving excellent exa...
15/01/2026
The JEC Composites Innovation Awards annually honor the most innovative and ambi...
There are few sports that have the power to captivate a critical mass of the global population quite like soccer (aka football) does. And every four years, fans rally behind their nations and experience the highs and lows of the beautiful game in one of the biggest tournaments in the world. 
