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Within the span of 13 episodes, Taj Media's broadcasting arm will
transverse the history, the excitement, passion and wealth of the
sport. The first episode aptly titled Superstars takes a
look at careers of players who have risen above the rest and left
their indelible and lasting mark on the history of football. The
key interviews include Diego Maradona, Alfredo di Stefano, Pelé,
and Zinedine Zidane.
In the second episode Origins, the sports channel will be
tracing the early history of football, from the influences that
led to the formation of the Football Association in 1863, to how
football spread in Britain and the rest of the world. With major
football stars and social historians talking about football’s unique
appeal, the programme should be an informative watch.
During the course of the episode, the channel, will aim to unravel
why Germany, the three times World Cup winners, initially shunned
the sport for being 'un-Germanic'. The celebrity interviews, in
the second episode, include Hugo Sanchez, Alfredo di Stefano and
other key historians.
The next episode- Brazil, explores the country's (Brazil’s)
dominance on the field, along with a special report on the violent
and racist side of Brazilian football. The special report include
the drama that followed, after Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup Final
to Uruguay. How the Brazilian public blamed the three black team
players, especially goalkeeper Barbosa. Zico, Mario Zagallo, Didi,
Pele, Socrates, Zizinho, Roberto Rivelino and Tele Santana will
be speaking about what really went wrong that year.
In the fourth episode -Football cultures, topics like football’s
role within international cultures, combining religion in Iran,
with economics in America, and politics in Spain and Ghana will
be touched upon. Celebrities interviewee's include Luis Suarez,
Alfredo di Stefano, Carles Rexach, Jose Angel Iribar, Francisco
Gento, Andoni Zubizarreta, Clive Toye, Phil Woosnam, Pele, Abedi
Pele, and Henry Kissinger.
The European Game charts the major trends that helped shape
the development of European football into the game it is today.
The high point of the episode include interviews with Europe’s greatest
goal-scorer of all time, Pepi Bican, 1936 Olympic Gold Medallist
and 1938 World Cup winner Pietro Rava, Alberto Pozzo, son of the
legendary Vittorio Pozzo; and Nandor Hidegkuti and Gyula Grosics,
surviving players from the great Hungarian team of the 1950’s.
The sixth episode European Superpowers profiles teams that
have changed football history: Real Madrid in the 1950’s, the Dutch
and Germans of the 1970’s, Liverpool in the 1980’s,and Milan and
the French national teams of the 1990’s.
Alfredo di Stefano, Fransisco Gento, Giacinto Facchetti, Jimmy
Johnstone, Sir Bobby Charlton, Phil Neal, Kenny Daglish, Paolo Rossi,
Jurgen Klinsmann, Paolo Maldini, Alan Shearer, Oliver Bierhoff,
Aimé Jacquet and Zinedine Zidane, will be the special guest of the
episode.
Taking a cue from Pele's statement that an African country would
win a World Cup by the turn of the 21st century, the next eposode
Africa will look into why despite their huge potential, these
developing football nations have yet to make their mark on the world
game. Interviews include Roger Milla, Abedi Pele, Thomas N’kono,
Neil Tovey, Pierre Kalala and Issa Hayatou.
With South American countries have won eight World Cups, South
American Superpowers focuses on the teams that have changed
the course of football history. In the ninth episode For club
and country, the sports channel will chart the trials and tribulations
of French football. It will also examined is the evolution of Juventus
into one of the world’s 'superclubs'.
Dwight Yorke will be talking about balancing the requirements
of Manchester United with Trinidad, and Sir Alex Ferguson discusses
the changes he’s seen at Manchester United, the first billion pound
club. The episode key interviews include the first ever World Cup
goal scorer Lucien Laurent , Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Charlton,
Fernando Hierro, Zidane, Aimé Jacquet, Roberto Bettega, Dino Zoff.
The tenth episode Media, looks at the media’s role in football.
The interviews including George Best and Jurgen Klinsmann, who will
talk ills of paparazzi.
In the next episode, A game for all, the focus will be on
the history of FIFA and other powerbrokers, that influence the spread
of the game culturally as well as commercially.
While in the twelth episode,The dark side, will string all
the events and stories that have made headline news; tragedies that
have brought communities together, a war sparked by a match, and
hooliganism that has threatened the very existence of the game.
The interviewee list for this episode includes Sauro Toma, relatives
of the Hillsborough victims, Bill Foulkes, and relatives of the
Zambian aircrash team.
While in the last episode, Taj Media's broadcasting arm will be
looking at the Future of the game and lessons to be learnt
from the past In a special interview, Zico and Kazu will be commenting
on how they feel about sharing the limelight with a comic book hero.
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