The Global Story

Will co-hosting the World Cup take men’s soccer to another level in the United States? From More than the Score - the global sports podcast that follows the stories behind the results. Search for More than the Score wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

In many countries, football is the major sporting obsession - but the same can't be said about the US. The NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and NHL have a longer history and dominate media coverage, sponsorship deals and the national conversation. But has this men’s Fifa World Cup changed that - particularly since President Trump got involved?

Soccer has made big strides in the US since it first hosted the men's World Cup in 1994 with the women's team now a powerhouse and Lionel Messi's move to Inter Miami boosting interest in the men's domestic league, the MLS.

We hear from former head of US soccer Alan Rothenberg, the USA international footballers Eric Wynalda and Heather O'Reilly, MLS vice-president Dan Courtemanche, and South Korea captain Son Heung-Min, who made the move to the MLS from the English Premier League.

The coffin of Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former supreme leader, killed by Israel in February, has been on a procession tour this week of holy sites in Iraq and Iran. Huge crowds gathered wherever it went, the coffin was passed over a sea of hands, and three of Khamenei’s sons wept over the coffin in Tehran.

Meanwhile, the US and Iran have launched new strikes throughout the week. The peace between the US and Iran is fragile, at best. At worst, it could be over. We speak to Parham Ghobadi, from the BBC’s Persian Service.

(Photo: Burial of Iran's late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Mashhad. Credit: Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters)

Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Aron Keller

Sound engineer: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Citizen Vigilante is a low-budget action thriller starring actor Armie Hammer as a vigilante who hunts down migrant criminals in Europe. The movie faced a muted reception - until Elon Musk posted it to his hundreds of millions of followers on X.com.

We speak to journalist Mike Wendling to understand why this film has become a lightning rod for political and cultural debate, and what its sudden rise reveals about the far-reaching influence of the world’s richest man.

Producers: Aron Keller and Hannah Moore

Executive producer: Bridget Harney

Photo: Elon Musk at the Viva Technology conference, June 16, 2023. Credit: Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo.

Mix: Travis Evans

Video journalist: Matt Pintus

Senior news editor: China Collins

World leaders are gathering in Ankara, Turkey for a Nato summit, despite tensions between Donald Trump and Nato allies over financial contributions and the Iran war. The US president hasn’t hidden his consternation with European leaders, and has suggested he is only attending ‘out of respect to President Erdogan’.

Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has come under criticism for a crackdown on dissent in the country, which has led to over 200 arrests of activists, journalists and public figures in the lead up to the summit. So how has he taken on such a pivotal role within Nato?

We speak to BBC correspondent and presenter, Mark Lowen, who was based in Istanbul for five years, before he was detained and banned from the country while on a reporting trip last year.

Producers: Valerio Esposito and Sam Chantarasak

Executive producer: Bridget Harney

Mix: Travis Evans

Digital producer: Tom Bage

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: President Trump shakes hands with Turkish President Erdogan at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, July 7, 2026. Credit: Emrah Gurel/Pool via Reuters

Donald Trump has revealed that he personally called Gianni Infantino, the head of Fifa, to ask him to review the red card given to United States' star player Folarin Balogun. The striker had been given a one-match ban after a hard tackle against Tarik Muharemovic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, but the punishment was suspended in time for the US to play their final 16 match against Belgium yesterday.

The decision has been widely condemned across the football world, with European footballing organisation UEFA, calling it, "unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable", and former Fifa president Sepp Blatter writing on X, “Redcards are not overturned by political phone calls… Football must never become a playground for political power.”Infantino has insisted the decision was made independently by Fifa’s “independent judicial bodies”.

On today’s show, Tristan is joined by BBC football issues correspondent Dale Johnson and New Yorker staff writer Sam Knight, to explain the scandal, and how Infantino’s governance of Fifa has brought football and politics closer together.

Producers: Hannah Moore and Xandra Ellin

Mix: Travis Evans

Video journalist: Matt Pintus

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: Folarin Balogun of the U.S. looks dejected as he applauds fans after the match following their elimination from the World Cup, July 6, 2026. Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Blake Dahlin

President Trump will be attending a NATO summit in Turkey this week, where he’s likely to hear one consistent message from European leaders: the tide is shifting against Russia in its war with Ukraine. And not just on the battlefield.

Russian cities are being pounded by Ukrainian drones in ever increasing numbers. Fuel shortages have become widespread as key infrastructure has been targeted, with long lines seen at gas stations and trucks abandoned by the side of the road. Vladimir Putin recently made a rare admission; that his country is actually facing problems caused by the conflict, amid growing disquiet about Russia’s enormous economic problems.

In today’s episode we speak to Simon Shuster, staff writer at The Atlantic, and veteran reporter of Russia and Ukraine. And with the war starting to hit home, we ask if Putin is now on the backfoot?

Producers: Lucy Pawle and Hannah Moore

Executive producer: Bridget Harney

Mix: Travis Evans

Video producer: Matt Pintus

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: Russia's President Putin meets with service members in Moscow, June 12, 2026. Photo Credit: Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters

As the United States celebrates 250 years since its founding, this week The Global Story has been exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world.

Today, we hear from you. Asma and Tristan put your thoughts and questions about America’s impact on the world to the BBC’s international editor, Jeremy Bowen, who has reported from more than 90 countries over the past 40 years, and to Celia Hatton, who hosts the BBC’s Global News Podcast and previously spent 15 years reporting from inside China.

Producers: Cat Farnsworth, Aron Keller and Hannah Moore

Executive producer: James Shield

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: An illustration of a megaphone. Credit: BBC

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, all this week The Global Story is exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world.

For decades in the US, “Made in China” signified a product that was cheap, poorly made, and, in some cases, produced through exploitative labour. But today, the label signifies something quite different in many American minds - state-of-the-art tech and luxury goods that even rival America, for arguably the first time in US history.

Often overlooked is the fact that China’s ascendance as an economic superpower was far from inevitable. Today we speak to historian Elizabeth Ingleson to trace the evolution of the Made in China brand and to explore what responsibility the United States had for awakening its own economic rival.

Producer: Xandra Ellin and Sam Chantarasak

Executive producer: James Shield

Sound engineer: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, The Global Story is this week exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world.

President Donald Trump’s attempts at regime change in Iran and Venezuela, controversial as they are, reflect the US’s long history of using both military and covert operations to achieve its goals abroad.

One of the forefathers of this approach to foreign intervention was Allen Dulles, the first civilian head of the Central Intelligence Agency, who used undercover – and often morally dubious – tactics to topple global leaders deemed unfriendly to America’s interests.

On today’s show, Tim Weiner, author of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA and The Mission: the CIA in the 21st Century, joins Tristan and Asma to explain how Dulles' legacy played out through the ‘War on Terror’ and how it has helped shaped today’s US foreign policy.

Producers: Hannah Moore and Aron Keller

Mix: Travis Evans

Executive Producer: James Shield

Senior news editor: China Collins

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, all this week The Global Story is exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world.

One of the most powerful and enduring American ideas is that of the American Dream. Today, we hear the story of one extraordinary American Dream seeker.

The BBC first spoke to Abdi Nor Iftin in 2014, when he was living in one of Kenya's toughest neighbourhoods after fleeing conflict in Somalia. When he won the US green card lottery his problems seemed to be solved – but it turned out to be the start of a whole new struggle.

Producer: Viv Jones, Aron Keller

Executive producer: James Shield

Mix: Travis Evans

Digital producer: Matt Pintus

Senior news editor: China Collins

Image: An illustration of the Statue of Liberty. Credit: BBC