Rovers at the World Cup

from Rovers Returned Hosted by Paul Worthington & Simon Burns

There isn't a single current Blackburn Rovers player at the 2026 World Cup. It wasn't always this way. In our latest episode we look back at Rovers' second spell in the Premier League (2001-12) and the players who took their Rovers form all the way to the 2002, 2006, and 2010 World Cups, notably Damien Duff, Brad Friedel, Tugay, Lucas Neill, Brett Emerton, Ryan Nelsen, and yes, Hakan Ünsal. We also look at players who played for Rovers before and after featuring in one of these World Cups. We talk about what this run of World Cup talent actually says about the club at the time, the level Rovers were competing at, and the value-investing recruitment model that landed players like Friedel and Nelsen for next to nothing. Plus, we pick our all-time Rovers World Cup XI from this era, and argue about how far that team would actually go at the 2026 tournament.

Episode details come from the podcast's RSS feed.

Embed this episode

Attribution link and audio player

Ready to play

Rovers at the World Cup

0:00 56:24

No transcript yet.

Requests help us decide what to transcribe next.

Share this episode

Similar podcasts

Marathon Talk Deena Kastor & Martin Yelling Marathon Talk has returned in 2022 as part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors family. Hosted by Martin Yelling and the great Deena Kastor, every two weeks we'll bring you news, views and some amazing guest interviews from across the world of marathons and running. 3 Peaps In A PodCast 3 Peaps In A PodCast 3 different shows all under one roof... 1) Regular Show - Any topic, how it all started, 3 people covering a wide range of topics. 2) Robins Review - Post Match reaction to every Bristol City match. 3) Robins Reunited - Two former Bristol City players talking about their time together at Ashton Gate. The podcast is hosted by Patch, who was in Portland, Oregon in 2011 when he was asked on to his cousin’s podcast called The MitchCast. The podcast was two friends getting together to discuss a wide range of topics, from movies to reviewing drinks to playing games on air. Patch returned home and thought it would be great to replicate and expand on this. He approached his friends and former work colleagues, Mike and Rich, both fellow banter merchants who were initially sceptical, but eventually the pilot episode was recorded and they haven’t looked back. No one episode is the same, it ranges from the three lads chatting about what they

Frequently asked questions

How long is this episode of Rovers Returned?

This episode is 56 minutes long.

When was this Rovers Returned episode published?

This episode was published on July 6, 2026.

Can I download this Rovers Returned episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.