World Cup Stories Reheated: Zaire 1974 & Australia 2006 — How Great Were They?

We’re on our summer break before returning in August for what we hope will be our biggest and best season yet — but we’re not leaving you without football history.

Over the break, we’re reheating a few of our favourite World Cup stories from the By Far The Greatest Team archive. First up, it’s a brilliant World Cup double-header as Graham and Jamie are joined by guest Shane Guiliano to revisit Zaire 1974 and Australia 2006.

Two very different teams. Two very different tournaments. Two stories that show exactly why World Cup history is never just about results.

Australia 2006 gave us Guus Hiddink, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, late drama against Japan, and the heartbreak of that last-gasp defeat to Italy. It was the moment Australia’s golden generation finally stepped onto the biggest stage and made the world take notice.

Zaire 1974, meanwhile, is too often remembered only for the 9–0 defeat to Yugoslavia and the famous free-kick moment against Brazil. But behind the clips and the punchlines is a deeper story of politics, pressure, Mobutu’s regime, unpaid players, fear, pride, and a team carrying far more than football into the tournament.

This episode asks whether greatness can be found not only in victory, but in context, meaning, legacy, and survival.

In this episode, we cover:

• Australia’s long road back to the World Cup
• The Socceroos’ golden generation of 2006
• Guus Hiddink’s impact on Australian football
• Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka and that unforgettable run
• Zaire’s historic place as the first sub-Saharan African team at a World Cup
• The political pressure surrounding Zaire in 1974
• Why the 9–0 defeat to Yugoslavia does not tell the full story
• The truth and mythology around the Brazil free-kick moment
• How football history remembers winners, losers, cult heroes and misunderstood teams

If you love World Cup history, forgotten football stories, underdog teams, controversial tournaments, cult heroes, political football, or simply asking “how great were they?”, this one is well worth another listen.

Follow By Far The Greatest Team on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Instagram and Bluesky, and come and join the debate.

We’ll be back in August with a brand new season.

Until then, enjoy this World Cup story from the archive.

How great were they?

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Did we get the Season 4 rankings right?

In this special end-of-season episode of By Far The Greatest Team, Graham and Jamie are joined by regular guests Declan Clark and Gus Krasonis to reopen the Greatness Index and review every team, tournament and football story covered across Season 4.

After 38 episodes and features, 154 years of football history, 37 teams and 1 tournament ranked, it is time for one final question:

How great were they — and did we put them in the right place?

From Brazil 1982, Italy 1982, Huddersfield Town 1921–1928, Arsenal 1925–1939 and both Shankly Liverpool sides, to AC Milan 2002–2008, Derby County 1970–1973, USA 1994, England 1986, Stoke City 2008–2013, Wanderers 1872–1883, Blackpool 2009–2011, FC Twente 2009–2011 and Castel di Sangro 1995–1998, no ranking is completely safe.

Can a team like Brazil 1982 really be an All Time Great without winning the World Cup?

Should AC Milan 2002–2008 be promoted after three Champions League finals in five years?

Were Stoke City 2008–2013 unfairly sent Below the Line?

Can the original FA Cup pioneers, Wanderers, really be Not Great?

This is the Season 4 Greatness Index tribunal: teams can go up, teams can go down, reputations can be saved, and legacies can be damaged.

There are a few technical gremlins along the way, including the odd issue with Dec’s audio, but the debate, chaos and football nostalgia survive intact.

Takeaways

• A full review of every Season 4 Greatness Index ranking
• Promotion and relegation debates across the tiers
• Brazil 1982, AC Milan, Stoke, Wanderers, England 1986 and more put back under the microscope
• Reflections on 154 years of football history covered in one season
• A celebration of the guests, stories, arguments and chaos that made Season 4 special

Follow By Far The Greatest Team for more football history, retro football nostalgia, tactical debate, underdog stories and Greatness Index rankings.

Listen, subscribe, share, and tell us:

Did we get Season 4 right?

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating and also tell everyone about them!

Should FIFA create a World Cup Barbarians team for future men’s and women’s tournaments?

In this special episode of By Far The Greatest Team, we take one of football’s most ridiculous ideas and, naturally, start treating it far more seriously than we probably should.

What if FIFA held back one slot at future World Cups for a Barbarians-style football team — a mixed squad made up of players whose nations failed to qualify, players left out of final squads, and the great talents the tournament simply does not get to show?

No, not to replace national teams.
No, not to steal anyone’s place.
But to give football’s biggest tournament one more story.

Welcome to the FIFA Barbarians 26.

Using our own selection rules — players must either come from nations that failed to qualify or have been left out by countries that did, with a maximum of three players from any one nation — we build a fantasy squad good enough to make FIFA’s marketing department reach for a whiteboard.

There are elite goalkeepers denied the stage.
There are defenders from Italy, England and beyond.
There are midfielders with Premier League power, Champions League class and World Cup heartbreak.
There are forwards who would terrify most international back lines.
And yes, there is a manager. A very particular manager.

We name-drop, argue over, and eventually select from players including Jan Oblak, Donnarumma, Ramsdale, Matty Cash, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Harry Maguire, Alessandro Bastoni, Sandro Tonali, Dominik Szoboszlai, Foden, Palmer, Kvaratskhelia, Bryan Mbeumo, Lookman, Victor Osimhen, Robert Lewandowski, João Pedro and many more.

But who actually makes the final XI?
Who gets squeezed out by the three-player-per-nation rule?
And which manager is trusted to lead football’s most chaotic tournament experiment?

That is where the fun begins.

Takeaways

• Why a World Cup Barbarians team might be a ridiculous idea FIFA should actually take seriously
• How players from failed nations and major squad snubs could form a genuine elite side
• Why modern football, fantasy football culture and global fandom make this idea more relevant than ever
• The case for including a Barbarians team in future men’s and women’s FIFA World Cups
• The rules behind our FIFA Barbarians 26 selection process
• Why the missing-player pool is much stronger than it first appears
• How the three-player-per-nation rule creates some brutal selection calls
• And why this is not just a fantasy XI — it is a proper football argument

If you love football history, World Cup debate, fantasy XIs, classic tournament stories, tactical arguments, forgotten stars, cult heroes, and slightly absurd ideas taken far too seriously, this one is for you.

Follow By Far The Greatest Team for more football history, legendary teams, forgotten sides, cult heroes, World Cup stories and the search for the greatest football team of all time.

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating and also tell everyone about them!