ARE WE EUROPE

In 1974, the greatest Dutch team of all time had been beaten by West Germany in the World Cup Final in Munich. Fourteen years later, they returned to Germany under the same coach, Rinus Michels, and won the European Championships. To this day it remains their only major title, yet it is not so much the final that everyone remembers as the semi-final. The cathartic victory over the Germans in Hamburg was worth more than the trophy. It was revenge. 

This is a readout story from our latest magazine, which explores what can sports tell us about our identities. 

Produced and edited by Andrei Popoviciu and Stefano Montali.

Kyrill Hartog, Are We Europe's editor in chief, interviews Sarah Sax about her piece in our latest magazine called the Sports Issue. Sarah goes behind the scenes of writing the flagship piece, detailing the challenges and the different approach she had to take for this particular story.

Produced and edited by Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar

From the 1960s to the 1990s, four Georgian women ruled the world stage—also including Nana Alexandria and Nana Ioseliani. Dubbed druzhina—a combat-unit—by commentators, they inspired a mushrooming of chess schools up and down the country. From our latest print magazine, this story explores the history of Georgian women chess players and their impact on the game. 

Produced and edited by Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar

Despite skateboarding’s inclusion in the Olympics and the recent push for equality, most skaters are boys. This story is from our latest magazine, The Sports Issue, and uncovers the story of "The Snagglerats". They used to skate at their local Livingston Skate Park—known as Livi—and would often be the only ones there. In 2019, filmmaker Parisa Urquhart, whose uncle Iain originally designed the park in 1981, saw them skating there, and decided to make a documentary about them. She called it Long Live Livi.

Produced and edited by Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar.

For decades, Eastern Europe has suffered a massive brain drain of people heading abroad in search of opportunity. But something remarkable happened during the pandemic: huge numbers started coming back. Can they be convinced to stay? This week, Are We Europe present an episode from The Europeans Podcast, in which Katy and Dominic speak to urban researcher Ognyan Georgiev about his fascinating work tracking Bulgaria's returnees — and we get his predictions for which European cities are going to be the coolest in 20 years time. They're also talking about sexism in German football, Iceland's spectacular volcano eruption, and why Finland has yet again been named the world's happiest country. 

The Europeans is part of the Are We Europe Podcast Family, a collective of like-minded European podcasts. You can become a member of Are We Europe at www.areweeurope/member

Producer: Katz Laszlo

Assistant producers:  Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar

People who see Capoeira being performed for the first time often ask the same question: is it a dance or a martial art? The music, percussion, rituals, and the way that players move elegantly around and with each other, their limbs and body parts rolling over one another like waves, gives its movements a dance-like aesthetic. And yet, the players are undeniably fighting and competing. 

This is a story from our latest magazine, The Sports Issue, and uncovers how a sport developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil helped one woman find—and keep—her footing in Europe. You can find other readouts from The Sports Issue on our Are We Europe Readouts feed wherever you  get your earful of audio.

Produced and edited by Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar.

In this spoken word poem, Nikita Yasmin Shah reflects on the multiple strands of connectivity Britain has with former colonies and how this relationship has been erased. As a British-Kenyan-Indian, she sees different parts of her heritage in the everyday spaces of London.

Produced and edited by Andrei Popoviciu and Priyanka Shankar. Music by Mastermindbeatmaker.