History
The show first aired in 2001, succeeding the long-running On the Ball, and started out as a live 6-hour show, airing on Sunday afternoons. It was then shortened to a 3-hour show a few years later. Its popularity caused the brand to later grow to comprise a popular website as well as other digital content. Its original presenter was the late Les Murray, which was already the face of SBS' popular FIFA World Cup coverage, and did so for over 30 years before his retirement in 2014. The show's chief football analyst was the late Johnny Warren until his death in 2004. Murray and Warren were Australia's pre-eminent soccer commentary team, becoming very famous being the hosts of On the Ball, and well known to soccer fans as "Mr and Mrs Soccer"; [1] as a result, they were held over as presenters of the new show. After Warren's death, ex-Socceroo Craig Foster took over as the chief football analyst.
From 2 August 2010, the show was moved to Monday nights, on SBS Two live at 9.30pm AEST, and is repeated soon after on SBS One at 11.00pm AEST. This allowed for wider coverage of the football events from the weekend prior. The show was also shortened to one-hour episodes.
At the same time, they show added a new number of contributors: Tony Palumbo, a seasoned journalist with the Italian migrant press in Australia, assists in providing some insights on major European leagues, primarily the English Premier League and Italian Serie A. Some footage is provided from Spain's La Liga, France's Ligue 1, Scotland's Scottish Premier League, South America's Copa Libertadores and Germany's Bundesliga. UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, other cup games and internationals (European Championship) also get game footage; mainly the Champions League. Former Sydney FC coach Branko Culina is a regular contributor on discussion relating to Australian football. On 1 November 2012 SBS bought the rights to show one live A-League game per week, with the remainder going to pay TV provider Fox Sports. They will also broadcast the Socceroos' World Cup qualifiers on one-hour delay with Fox Sports showing them live. [2]
From August 2013, the show was retooled as a half-hour weekly Monday night show airing on SBS One. The new format now offers a wide coverage of Australian and international football events from the week prior, augmented with analysis and reaction from the show's experts..
After a brief hiatus in 2014–15, the show was once again retooled for the 2015–16 season, as a one-hour talk show edition on Sunday afternoon at 1pm. Due to Murray's retirement, Lucy Zelic took over as the programme's new presenter, with Foster remaining as chief analyst.
In 2019, after 17 seasons, the TV show was quietly dropped, and the brand was transitioned to focus on their digital platforms, but the show's podcast remained, broadcast through The World Game website. In 2021, as part of a streamlining of their digital operations, SBS announced that it was shutting down The World Game website, merging all soccer content within the SBS Sport website. [3] As the site was the only soccer website which catered to Australian fans, the move received heavy backlash. [4] SBS would still provide soccer coverage using The World Game brand, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup, on the SBS TV channel and through the SBS On Demand streaming platform.
Guests on the program have included Ledley King, Scott Jamieson, Shane Smeltz, Kevin Muscat, Corey Gameiro, Nick Montgomery, Marcos Flores, Vítor Saba, Luke Casserly and Archie Thompson.
