The First Shirt Swap

OTD E0195 — 14 May 1931: France beat England’s professional national team for the first time, winning 5–2 at Colombes — and then asked to exchange shirts as mementos. This episode traces the postwar professionalization of international football, Rimet, Delaunay, Meisl, Pozzo, England’s shrinking superiority, France’s 1930 World Cup generation, Lucien Laurent, the match itself, and how one request after the final whistle created one of football’s most familiar rituals.Ideas: [email protected]