The World Cup is over. The golden ball has been lifted. And now comes the question: What do you do when the thing you loved so much simply ends?

In this episode

The final match has been played. Spain won. Beauty won. And three depth psychologists sit together one last time to process something that every soccer fan, every creative person, and every human being who has ever given themselves fully to something knows.

The morning after.

Not the loss. The ending. The particular emptiness that arrives when something wonderful is over and the spirit that animated it has moved on to find a new home.

What you will hear:

• The after-flow and the depression that follows. Machiel opens with something that surprised even the others. After a creative endeavor ends (a World Cup, a book, a project, even the birth of a project), the spirit that visited finds its form and moves on. And the human host is left behind. What follows is often a mild depression. Not pathological. Natural. The price of having been truly inspired.
• Beauty winning. All three psychologists were rooting for Spain as a style. A way of playing. They wanted beauty to win. And it did. That feeling of something larger than a result being at stake, that is the World Cup at its most mythological.
• Soccer as art. The conversation returns to a theme that has run through the whole series. Soccer is like art. You can prefer Van Gogh or Rembrandt. You can prefer Spain or Argentina. And in those preferences something true about you is revealed.
• The post-World Cup rituals. John describes the World Cup poster on his son's wall. The moment of slowly taking it down. Folding it. Maybe leaving it on the table for a week before it goes in the trash. That small act becomes a ritual of honoring what has passed. Of not moving on too quickly. Of letting the transition be real.
• The pre-creative depression. Akke-Jeanne introduces a concept that reframes the emptiness after something ends. Before creativity flourishes again there is always a period of dullness, emptiness, and boredom. A winter. The temptation is to fill it up. The practice is to trust it. Something new is already forming beneath the surface.
• The in-between space has its own value. In a culture obsessed with performance and achievement, the non-performance state is treated as a problem to be solved. This conversation says otherwise. The in-between is not a gap between what mattered. It is part of what matters.
• The gift of more time. With the World Cup over, there is an afternoon to fill with something different. That can feel like loss. But it can also feel like a quiet relief. A freeing up. A small return to a life that had been temporarily organized around something external.
• What the series taught all three of them. A warm and genuine closing conversation between three people who have spent eight weeks thinking together, disagreeing, discovering, and playing. Not just about soccer. About life.

Practical takeaways:

• Do not rush through the ending. Whether it is the World Cup, a project, a relationship, or a season of life, the transition deserves to be honored. A small ritual helps. Taking down the poster slowly. Writing something. Going for a longer walk.
• Trust the winter. The emptiness after something meaningful ends is not a problem. It is a pre-creative depression. Something new is already forming. Give it time to arrive.
• Notice what the tournament revealed about you. What did you root for and why? What moments moved you and what did that tell you about your own values, your own gold?
• Let the in-between be. Not everything needs to be filled. The non-performance state has its own quality and its own value.

The question we leave you with:

Think of something that ended — a project, a season, a chapter of your life. What did you do with the space it left behind, and what would it mean to honor that ending rather than rush past it?

Share your answer with us at [email protected]. We read every one.

A note from the hosts

This is the final episode of The Golden Ball FM World Cup 2026 series. Thank you for listening, for sharing your answers, and for playing with us.

For the love of the game.

About the hosts

Machiel Klerk is a psychotherapist in New York City, founder of Jung Platform, and lifelong lover of the game. machielklerk.com

Akke-Jeanne Klerk is a personal development coach, depth psychology teacher, and co-founder of Jung Platform. akkejeanneklerk.com

John O'Brien is a former World Cup soccer player and sports psychologist who combines performance tools with sand, symbols, and imagination to help athletes and others perform and understand themselves more deeply. johnobriensportpsych.com

The Golden Ball, where depth psychology and the beautiful game help us play life better.