Podcasts are a popular form of entertainment in the modern era. Whether you enjoy sports debates or prefer interesting stories from former athletes, there are plenty of options out there.

Some of the best sports podcasts focus on previewing upcoming sports events, others are purely educational and aim to enhance knowledge of a particular sport.

Best Podcasts For Sports Fans

Plenty of sports betting followers often try to find sports betting podcasts in a bit find the best NFL picks straight up and European football expert picks but to no avail.

Without further ado, it is time for readers to check out our best sports podcasts of the year. If you are looking for sports podcasts, 888sport is the place to be.

Football Podcasts

Football is the biggest sport in the world and there are thousands of podcasts for football fans to get stuck into. However, only five can make our best football podcasts list.

Choosing five podcasts is almost impossible – some of the greatest ever football podcasts have been created in recent years. So, what are you waiting for? Get involved now…

Best Football Podcasts:

  • The Peter Crouch Podcast
  • Squawka Talker
  • Jamie Carragher’s “The Greatest Game”
  • The Sky Sports Football Podcast
  • Tifo Football

Tennis Podcasts

Tennis is a major focus here at 888sport and our tennis tipsters frequently listen to the most influential tennis podcasts available on Spotify, Audible and more.

Some of these podcasts are uploaded weekly, others are bi-weekly and a few are monthly. If you do some investigating, you will find the right tennis podcast for you.

Best Tennis Podcasts:

  • The Tennis Podcast
  • Beyond The Baseline
  • No Challenges Remaining
  • Racquet Magazine Podcast
  • The Body Serve

NBA Podcasts

With the NBA season fast approaching, basketball fans will be looking for the best basketball podcasts to get stuck into ahead of the coming months.

These five NBA podcasts are as interesting as they are entertaining – with some of the top names in basketball hosting and taking part as guests on a regular basis.

Best NBA Podcasts:

  • The Bill Simmons Project
  • Dunc’d On
  • The Jump
  • The Ringer NBA Show
  • Locked On NBA – Daily Podcast On The National

NFL Podcasts

The NFL is one of the most competitive leagues in sport and there are a plethora of NFL podcasts available for American football fans around the world.

Whether you are looking for NFL expert picks straight up or NFL fantasy news, these are the five best NFL podcasts to take your knowledge to the next level.

Best NFL Podcasts:

  • Around The NFL
  • Rotoworld Football Podcast
  • Pro Football Talk With Mike Florio
  • Inside The Huddle
  • NFL: Move The Sticks With Daniel Jeremiah & Bucky Brooks

Boxing Podcasts

Arguably the most thrilling sport around, boxing has a unique way of gripping viewers – and these best boxing podcasts are brilliant at keeping listeners entertained.

We have a diverse list of top boxing podcasts here, from emotional interviews with current and former fighters to boxing preview chats – here are our must listen podcasts.

Best Boxing Podcasts:

  • 5 Live Boxing With Costello & Bunce
  • Ringside Toe2Toe Boxing Podcast
  • Boxing Life Stories
  • Tha Boxing Voice
  • The Fight With Teddy Atlas

Cricket Podcasts

One of the most followed sports on the planet, cricket is popular in India, England and Australia. You could argue that there is a market for a specific cricket betting podcast though…

Take a look at these cricket podcasts – whether you’re a fan of Test cricket, One Day Internationals or the hectic T20 format.

Best Cricket Podcasts:

  • Following On Cricket Podcast
  • Cricket Unfiltered
  • Sky Sports Cricket Podcast
  • World Cricket Show
  • The Edges & Sledges Cricket Podcast

Golf Podcasts

Golf isn’t to everyone’s taste but ardent golf fans should check out some of the biggest golf podcasts. From golf lessons to debating the four majors, there is plenty to get stuck into.

Here are five of our favourite golf podcasts available for your listening pleasure. Each brings a different sense of enjoyment to the sport.

Best Golf Podcasts:

  • No Laying Up – Golf Podcast
  • Golf Weekly
  • The Fried Egg Golf Podcast
  • No Putts Given
  • Golf Smarter

Rugby Podcasts

There are an abundance of rugby podcasts, ranging from emotional interviews with former players to in-depth previews ahead of the biggest rugby fixtures.

If you are looking for the best rugby betting tips, news and general rugby banter, look no further than these five rugby podcasts.

Best Rugby Podcasts:

  • EggChasers Podcast
  • The Good, The Bad & The Rugby
  • The Rugby Pod
  • Flats and Shanks
  • Will Greenwood’s Rugby Podcast
June 18, 2024

By Alex McMahon

Alex McMahon Sport
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Alex is a sports betting tipster, specialising in Premier League football, the Champions League and horse racing.

He loves placing a weekly accumulator on the football at the weekend and dreams of landing the big winner that will take him back to Las Vegas.

As well as writing sports betting tips for 888sport since 2015, Alex has produced content for several international media companies, such as Goal.com and The SPORTBible. 
 

Alex McMahon
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Playing for your country is a proud moment for any footballer. Some players feature for the national side for years, others have short lived spells in international football.

However, a select group of players make the ‘one cap wonders’ club. Exclusively for players to feature just once for their country, the list of footballers in this bracket is limited.

Best England Players With One Cap:

  • Michael Ricketts

  • Joey Barton

  • Jay Rodriguez

  • David Nugent

  • Chris Sutton

  • Lee Bowyer

  • Kevin Davies

  • Dean Ashton

  • Matt Jarvis

  • Ryan Shawcross

You won’t see any Ballon d’Or winners make the cut here but there are some Premier League veterans, as well as general icons of English football.

So without further ado, it is time to look back at 10 of England’s best one cap wonders, starting with former Bolton Wanderers man Michael Ricketts.

Michael Ricketts

One of the best one season wonders in Premier League history, Ricketts was in fantastic form for Bolton Wanderers when he was called up for his England debut.

Playing a half against the Netherlands in February 2002, that England appearance seemed to have a negative impact on Ricketts as he failed to score for the rest of the season.

Joey Barton

Barton was handed his England debut against Spain in February 2007, coming off the bench to replace Frank Lampard with less than 15 minutes remaining.

He was something of a journeyman at club level, playing for the likes of Manchester City, Newcastle United and Burnley. To say his England career was short lived is an understatement.

Jay Rodriguez

Rodriguez was widely regarded as one of England’s top prospects after impressing during his time at Burnley and he enjoyed a prolific start to life at Southampton.

He earned his first England cap ahead of a clash with Chile in November 2013 but a career-threatening knee injury all but ended his chances of competing at international level.

David Nugent

Probably the most famous England one cap wonder. To be fair to the former Portsmouth striker, he has a 100% goal scoring record for the Three Lions.

Nugent robbed a goal off Jermain Defoe in England’s victory over Andorra in March 2007 and he is one of only three players to win just one cap and score for England.

Chris Sutton

A Premier League champion, a Golden Boot winner and a UEFA Cup runner up yet Sutton earned just one call up for England during his professional career.

Sutton’s fall out with Glenn Hoddle didn’t help his cause but it is a travesty how a prolific Premier League goal scorer recorded just one appearance for the national team.

Lee Bowyer

A fan favourite at Leeds United, Bowyer was a controversial figure on and off the pitch. We all remember his clash with Newcastle teammate Kieron Dyer, right?

Bowyer was a livewire and he earned his first England call-up against Portugal in September 2002. He recorded an assist for clubmate Alan Smith but that would be his only England appearance.

Kevin Davies

Your stereotypical Sam Allardyce forward, Davies became the oldest England debutant in 60 years when he featured in a European Championship qualifier against Montenegro in 2010.

At the time, Davies was 33 years old but he would go on to play for another five years. His England career, however, was over as quickly as it had begun.

Dean Ashton

In a similar way to Rodriguez, Ashton was very unlucky with injuries just as he was starting to build momentum at the highest level of English football.

He was never the same after suffering a serious ankle injury in an England training session but he did manage to earn a cap against Trinidad and Tobago during Fabio Capello’s tenure.

Matt Jarvis

Jarvis became the first Wolverhampton Wanderers player to appear for England since 1990 when Capello selected him to play against Ghana in March 2011.

Unfortunately for Jarvis, his England career ended on that same day but he played at West Ham United and Norwich City before dropping down to the lower echelons of English football later in his career. 

Ryan Shawcross

Shawcross faced a baptism of fire on his England debut against Sweden in November 2012 – Zlatan Ibrahimovic isn’t the easiest player to face in your first international outing.

The iconic Swede scored four goals in a crazy game of football and that all but signalled the end of his England career. To this day, he only made one Three Lions appearance.

June 18, 2024

By Alex McMahon

Alex McMahon Sport
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Alex is a sports betting tipster, specialising in Premier League football, the Champions League and horse racing.

He loves placing a weekly accumulator on the football at the weekend and dreams of landing the big winner that will take him back to Las Vegas.

As well as writing sports betting tips for 888sport since 2015, Alex has produced content for several international media companies, such as Goal.com and The SPORTBible. 
 

Alex McMahon
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When it comes to professional basketball, size matters. With a few notable exceptions – like the 5’ 3” Mugsy Bogues, who famously ruled as a master of steals and assists – the NBA is no place for the vertically challenged. 

Though the average height of league players is 6’ 6”, it’s the truly skyscraping guys who stand up and stand out. They’re the ones who can make a difference.

https://www.888sport.com/blog/football-prediction

They swing point-spreads and influence the way we bet on games. The basketball odds traders know that better than anyone...

So, with the NBA finals in progress, where the Boston Celtics’ Kristaps Porzingis towers above the proceedings at 7’ 2”, here is a starting five of players who, during the course of NBA history, stand head and shoulders above all others.

Gheorge Muresan – 7’ 7”

Appropriately nicknamed The Giant, this Romania-born center played in the NBA from 1993 until 2000, first for the Washington Bullets (later named the Wizards) and then for the New Jersey Nets.

While his career average of 9.8 points is nothing to write home about, he was tough to stop in the paint and hit 57 percent of the shots he attempted. His career was cut short by a debilitating back injury. 

Manute Bol – 7’ 7”

Born in Sudan, Manute Bol loved athletics right from the start. He was a keen soccer player until he became too tall to play the sport comfortably and turned to basketball.

Bol came to America in the early 1980s with the intention of playing for Cleveland State University. But his English skills never got good enough for him to matriculate.

So, he did not step onto the court there and eventually attended the modest Bridgeport State University, where, each game, he averaged 22.5 points and 13.5 rebounds.

He hit the NBA in 1985, playing for the Washington Bullets – alongside the pint-sized Mugsy Bogues and preceding fellow big-man Muresan in DC.

Over the next 12 years, Bol played for a number of teams. But he had one very memorable game, in which he was paired against the great Charles Barkley and landed six of 12 three-pointers in the second half. Every time Bol had the ball that night, fans shouted, “Shoot!”

Bol passed away in 2010, due to acute kidney failure. One definite success: Manute Bol put Sudan on the NBA map.

Slavko Vranes – 7’ 6”

Though he played just one NBA game, it still counts and earns him a spot on the list.

Slavko Vranes, born in Montenegro, entered the court for just three minutes, wearing a Portland Trail Blazers jersey. That happened after he signed a 10-day contract in 2004.

Proving that height is not the only thing, it was an unmemorable appearance, with Vranes missing one shot and picking up a foul.

He’s had more success on the European circuit, but his NBA hopes were quickly dashed.

Shawn Bradley – 7’ 6”

Having grown up a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Shawn Bradley was a natural to play college ball on the Christian-oriented Brigham Young University team.

After his freshman year, he took a two-year leave of absence from college to work as a missionary and, ultimately, bailed on higher education. But that did not stop him from getting drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1993.

Moses Malone was brought on to mentor Bradley, but Bradley never got past the point of being inconsistent. He went on to endure up-and-down stints with the New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks before retiring in 2005.

Bradley got truly unlucky in 2021, when he was riding his bike, got hit from behind by a car and wound up paralyzed. He is in rehab and, of course, not losing the faith.

Yao Ming – 7’ 6”

Shanghai-born Yao Ming, cut his teeth in the Chinese Basketball Association.

He entered NBA predictions in 2002 as the Houston Rockets’ center. Ming played for the team through 2011, making eight all-star teams. Over the course of his playing career, he averaged 19 points per game.

 It all might have been better had he not been plagued by injuries. But no one – least of all Ming – is complaining. He made the NBA Hall of Fame, which is a big achievement befitting a big man.


*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*

June 7, 2024
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Michael Kaplan is a journalist based in New York City. He has written extensively on gambling for publications such as Wired, Playboy, Cigar Aficionado, New York Post and New York Times.

He is the author of four books including Aces and Kings: Inside Stories and Million-Dollar Strategies from Poker’s Greatest Players. He’s been known to do a bit of gambling when the timing seems right.

Michael Kaplan
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Trophies are the cleanest way to measure the success of a football manager. Sure, not all trophies are created equal, but silverware is the ultimate aim for managers at the top of the sport.

Most Successful Football Managers:

Sir Alex Ferguson 48 trophies
Pep Guardiola 39 trophies
Mircea Lucescu 32 trophies
Valeriy Lobanovskyi 29 trophies
Carlo Ancelotti 28 trophies
Jock Stein 26 trophies
Luiz Felipe Scolari 26 trophies
Ottmar Hitzfeld 25 trophies
Jose Mourinho 25 trophies
Giovanni Trapattoni 23 trophies

The arrival of a great manager will improve a team’s football betting odds. Some will have an impact beyond their own club, changing the way the game is thought about or how clubs are run.

Here are the most successful managers of all-time, ranked by the total number of trophies won:

Giovanni Trapattoni Trophies

Giovanni Trapattoni has managed some of the world’s biggest clubs, including Inter, Milan, Juventus, and Bayern Munich.

Only four other countries – two of which feature in this article – have won league titles in four different European countries, and Trapattoni is one of three coaches to win all three of UEFA’s major club competitions.

Renowned for his quotable press conferences and his take on Catenaccio, Trapattoni is one of the modern managerial greats.

France Football voted him the 12th best manager of all-time in 2019 – many would have ranked him even higher. 

Jose Mourinho Trophies

At one point, José Mourinho looked destined to finish near the very top of this list.

Mourinho has declined from his glorious days in west London, Porto, and Milan, leaving him tied for eighth after leaving Roma in 2024. 

The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ is clearly one of the best managers in Premier League history. He won three Premier League titles with Chelsea across two spells before frustrating stints with Tottenham and Manchester United. 

While he’s no longer the manager he once was, peak Mourinho was a tactical mastermind and genius motivator who brought success to every club he was employed by.

Ottmar Hitzfeld Trophies

Twice named World Coach of the Year, Ottmar Hitzfeld collected trophies relentlessly across his spells with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

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He led both of the Bundesliga giants to Champions League titles, and saw his teams named German champions on seven occasions. Prior to that, he won a couple of league titles with Grasshopper.

Hitzeld finished off his managerial career with Switzerland, and reportedly turned down a big money offer from the Chinese Super League.

Luiz Felipe Scolari Trophies

His brief appearance in Premier League odds didn’t work out, yet Luiz Felipe Scolari has a trophy haul rivalled by few managers in football history.

Scolari has been a manager for over 40 years, winning silverware in Japan, China, Brazil, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait. 

On the international stage, he led Brazil to the 2002 World Cup, and the 2013 Confederations Cup.

Named South American Coach of the year on two occasions, Scolari’s trophy tally is worth plaudits, even if he never cracked European football. 

Jock Stein Trophies

Dominant with Celtic throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Jock Stein won 10 league titles, eight Scottish Cups and the European Cup.

He won almost 70% of his matches in charge of Celtic after spells with Dunfermline, Hibernian, and Scotland.

After a short stint with Leeds, Stein was again named Scotland manager. He led them through an impressive qualifying campaign, but tragically passed away before their final qualifying match against Wales.

Alex Ferguson – Stein’s assistant – took over for the match and led the Scots into the 1986 World Cup. 

Carlo Ancelotti Trophies

He might not have an extensive coaching tree like some others on this list, but there is no question Carlo Ancelotti ranks among the greatest managers of all-time.

He’s the only manager to have won league titles in all of Europe’s top five leagues, and holds the record for the most Champions League wins as a manager - winning the competition once again in 2024.

Winner of a double at Chelsea, the Italian added more hardware across stops in Paris and Munich. Before returning to the Santiago Bernabeu, he managed both Everton and Napoli.

After winning La Décima in his first stint with Los Blancos, Ancelotti won two La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues in his second spell. 

Valeriy Lobanovskyi Trophies

Valeriy Lobanovskyi is one of football’s greatest tactical innovators. Influential in the rise of Total Football, Lobanovskyi collected records at a remarkable rate in the Soviet Union.

The Ukrainian made Dynamo Kyiv into one of the best teams in the world – they reached the last eight of the European Cup or better on eight occasions.

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The eight league titles in the Soviet Top League only tell part of Lobanovskyi’s story.

An excellent motivator – with colleagues describing him as a psychologist – Lobanovskyi combined football prediction knowhow with brilliant man management to craft an exceptional managerial career. 

Mircea Lucescu Trophies

Successful in Romania, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, Mircea Lucescu will be best remembered for his entertaining Shakhtar Donetsk sides.

Lucescu has also taken charge of Zenit, Galatasaray, Besiktas, and Dynamo Kyiv, and guided Brescia to the Serie B title in 1991-92.

While he was often linked with jobs in Western Europe, Lucescu never returned to Europe’s top five leagues after a disappointing spell with Inter in 1998-99. 

Pep Guardiola Trophies

Pep Guardiola has been named IFFHS’ World’s Best Club Coach on three occasions. That’s arguably a bit harsh given the success he has brought to Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City. 

Winner of trebles with Barcelona and Manchester City, Guardiola has broken records everywhere he’s gone.

City are the first team in the Premier League era to win four consecutive titles. He has won 11 league titles in 15 topflight seasons.

Sir Alex Ferguson Trophies

The individual awards are plentiful. The 13 league titles and two Champions Leagues speak for themselves.

Alex Ferguson’s achievements in management are unrivalled, such was his prolonged success with Manchester United after winning three league titles and a European trophy with Aberdeen. 

You can take your pick with what to focus on when reflecting on Ferguson’s career. His commitment to trusting young players remains admirable, as was his ability to manage big egos (even if that meant moving them on).

The mind games with other managers were part of the entertainment, and the on-pitch product was often box office.


*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*

June 7, 2024
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Sam is a sports tipster, specialising in the Premier League and Champions League.

He covers most sports, including cricket and Formula One. Sam particularly enjoys those on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean – notably MLB and NBA.

Watching, writing and talking about sports betting takes up most of his time, whether that is for a day out at T20 Finals Day or a long night of basketball.

Having been writing for several years, Sam has been working with 888Sport since 2016, contributing multiple articles per week to the blog.

Sam Cox
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