The World Game
Andrew Orsatti, Branko Culina and Craig Foster on The World Game (24 September 2006)
Format	Sports
Starring	Les Murray, Craig Foster, David Basheer, Francis Awaritefe, Anthony Peridis, Tony Palumbo and Mariana Rudan. Regular guests include Rale Rasic, Branko Culina and Paul Okon.
Country of origin	Australia
No. of episodes	unknown
Production
Running time	4 hours
Broadcast
Original channel	SBS
Original run	2001 – present

The World Game is an afternoon Sunday television show on SBS in Australia dedicated to football (soccer). Hosted by David Basheer, former Socceroo Craig Foster, and Les Murray, the show analytically reviews and previews football and footballing issues from around the globe, albeit with an Australian focus. The World Game is the sport's only weekly program on free-to-air television in Australia.

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 the Serie A. Some footage is provided from Spain's La Liga, France's Ligue 1, Scotland's 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. SBS has no broadcast rights to the A-League, the premier Australian football league, or the Australian national team.

The show, which first aired in 2001, has evolved from a 6-hour to a 3-hour show. Regular segments featured on the show include: Kids FC, The Wrap (with Mariana Rudan), Aussies Abroad, The Local Game, Football Focus, The Global Game, The International Game, Asian Champions League, Les Murray's Football Feature, Football Asia and UEFA Champions League Magazine

SBS avoids using the term "soccer" and often refers to it as "the beautiful game", "the world game" or simply as "football". The decision followed the majority of countries which call the game "football".

Contents 1 Regular Segments 2 World Cup and European Champions League Broadcasts 3 Previous Contributors 4 Website 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Regular Segments

• Football Focus
• The Local Game
• The Global Game
• The International Game
• Kids FC
• Aussies Abroad
• Les Murray's Football Feature
• The Wrap (with Mariana Rudan)

[edit] World Cup and European Champions League Broadcasts

The SBS sports team responsible for this show also organise broadcasts from FIFA World Cups, European Championshipand the UEFA Champions League.

On every matchday of the Champions League one Wednesday and one Thursday match are broadcast live. Match callers are generally David Basheer and Gary Bloom, as well as Martin Tyler, who due to his reputation is selected for the major occasions, such as finals.

[edit] Previous Contributors

Simon Hill, who since moved to Fox, was an anchor. Telephone Reports from South America came often from Tim Vickery.

Liz Deep-Jones, Mieke Buchan and Stephanie Brantz had roles as general sports-news news announcer within the show. This type of position is no longer available in the current format.

Former host Andrew Orsatti has since moved to ESPN.

[edit] Website

The World Game website is a popular football news website run as an adjunct to the TV program. It includes a forum called The World Game Forum. Commonly referred to by the abbreviation TWGF, the forum is one of the more popular football forums in Australia. It currently has over 18,000 members, who have contributed to over 800,000 articles.^[1] It was first established in July 2002.

[edit] See also

• SBS Television
• SBS TV
• SBS World News Channel
• SBS Essential
• SBS independent
• Fox Sports FC

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• The World Game at the Internet Movie Database
• The World Game at TV.com