About THE SHOW

About FOUNDING FUTBOL

Founding Futbol is a podcast created to ask and, hopefully, answer the question “why has soccer’s time in America finally arrived?” This weekly episodes will explore the societal context of key moments that have shaped the perception of soccer over the decades. 

Kent malmros

about the host

Kent is a former journalist and long-time soccer dad who has decided to start this podcast in an effort to combine former and current passions. After watching his daughter, who will play college soccer, fall in love with the game, Kent also developed a previously untapped passion for soccer. In many respects, he’s the archetype of why soccer has risen to popularity in America. 

Early in his career, he worked as a broadcast sports journalist, hosting The Daily Rewind MLB.TV and various radio talk shows forMLB.com. Other on–air work included fill–in sportscasts for WZBN–TV and radio broadcast for the Trenton Titans, a minor league hockey team. Before working on air, Kent was a writer. His writing credits include The Philadelphia Daily News, The Doylestown Intelligencer, The Gazette, MLB.com and MiLB.com.

Kent graduated from University of Pennsylvania, where he was both the Sports Editor and Executive Editor at The Daily Pennsylvanian, the University’s independent student newspaper. 

Our HYPOTHESIS

Founding Futbol was conceived around one simple idea: soccer’s popularity in America is the result of many cumulative moments on the field, combined with a changing landscape off the field. We chose 52 moments that we believe explain the growth of the beautiful game in a place that once shunned it. Tune in every week to go in this journey with us.

Our FORMAT

This weekly podcast will consist of deep topic research, laid out by the host. Combined with two long-form interviews during each episode that add context and perspective to the topic at hand. Run-time will vary depending on the topic and interviews but should be around an hour each week. 

Our GOAL

Our goal is to expand the conversation around soccer in America. The common language around the game, for decades, has dismissed it as boring  or unsophisticated. Yet, popularity has quietly grown to the point where it may soon be the country’s most popular sport. We examine why and how this groundswell occurred, bringing fresh perspectives on soccer’s place in this country.