The question hangs like an ice cold beer over the top shelf of your buddy’s fridge at halftime. The question is: how is this so good? Maybe Brian Phillips did the research. Maybe Brian outthought the number crunchers in the board room, launched at midnight when they were asleep in their regen pods, and delivered a masterclass in storytelling. Maybe Brian Phillips sold his soul to the devil. Does it matter? Kick off your cleats, pull up a cold one and settle in. This is the best soccer podcast ever made. It captures the hope, the loss, the corruption, the ludicrous joy of this World Cup in a way no one else has, or can, or will. This is not a soccer podcast. This is a perpetual happiness generator. And here we go.

Pathetic to attempt such a list and leave out his goal in South Africa. Americans know little about football.

Make a 26 goals for the 2026 World Cup with Brian Phillips

There’s no one else like him in sports media. 22 Goals was brilliant

Love the show but it was like a sharp jab to the heart every time I heard the host pronounce Maradona like Cappadonna. Mah-rah-doh-nah. He does so well with other players or places like Villa Fiorito! But then to do god himself like that. It would be like pronouncing Zidane as “Zi-Dane.”

Just a soccer mom who doesn’t know much about soccer history. I enjoyed every episode!

There’s no one like Brian in sportswriting! Such an awesome personal style, and a great storyteller. There’s so much content in this podcast and each episode hits.

It took far far too long to get to the Pele story. Too much indulgence by the host I’m afraid

Each episode is meticulously written and narrated. It was filled with humor and passion. You can tell the author is a soccer super fan plus historian combined with a goofball, my kind of guy. I biggest wish for him: write a book and turn it into a killer audiobook.

Expertly told meticulously crafted. Almost all episodes were gems. Amazing podcast!

This was a wonderful companion to the World Cup. Your last episode on Pele’ was especially great! Thank you, Brian.

Only bad thing about this podcast is it’s over (for now…?). Brian talks about soccer like how I’ve always felt about it but didn’t know how to explain.

So often brilliant - the angles it takes on familiar people and scenes, the connections it presents. Entertaining, cause for (re)thinking, a marvel of artful construction. I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast series & I’ll have an ear on Brian Phillips for whatever he does in the future.

When there was a World Cup game on, I would listen to this podcast. It is so entertaining, and I would recommend this to anyone. I think this is the best podcast ever. Thank you for making my boredom go away. -Beckett Darling

Deep and winding tales of the men's world cup, recounted with genuine love for what the game can be. Sometimes the story starts years or miles from where you know it's going, but then - like an LRB (ep 14) - Brian unexpectedly brings all the threads together for a truly delightful "ah hah". Importantly, Brian does a great job painting a rich picture of each moment in this all-audio medium, which is no small skill. But most importantly, the JOY of the game shines through each episode. 100 stars.

Brian Phillips work on 22 Goals is simply brilliant. It rolling on the floor funny, and then at times super thought provoking, it is intelligent, it is intellectual without being presumptuous and of course it is super informative. His work here captures joy as a sports fan. I love it as a soccer fan, and just a fan of sports and life in general.

This guy is so good. He knows how to make anything sound interesting, but when it’s the greatest World Cup goals.. the perfect storm. I don’t write podcast reviews.

I was really excited to hear about this podcast, especially on the eve of the FIFA World Cup. I listen to the first few episodes and loved them. The further you get into the episodes, however, the podcast is less about the story of these goals and more about the podcast host, talking to hear himself talk. It becomes extremely self indulgent the further along you get an actually unlistenable. Three stars out of five for the idea and how good the first few episodes were, but I can’t go any higher than that.

Not one to rate podcasts, but these might be my favorite things I’ve ever listened to. Will be relistening for years to come. They’re that good.

What a horrible choice to host this podcast. As interesting as the subject is, this guy is sooooo annoying. From the way he over enunciates every word, to the dumb dad jokes he sprinkles in, he’s just impossible to get through. I didn’t come to listen to Johan Cruyff to listen to this guy talk about Bob Dylan for 8 straight minutes and repeat his name 10 times for each of those minutes.

The idea for this was a good one. But the host just was not the right person for it. Lame jokes, completely unrelated stories and side notes. Tried way too hard to be fun and entertaining but instead just took away from the actual content.

Great idea for a pod but just didn’t execute. Host couldn’t get the right balance. New topic every episode + 1 hr max and still dragged on. Wrong host.

Amazing

Super excited for this World Cup. Ready to blow. Only thing keeping me from going all the way is the incredibly annoying tone and intonation of the narrator. Content Solid, Huge.

If I had a dollar for every bad joke in this pod I could bribe FIFA for my own World Cup. Too bad because it had potential.

The content is phenomenal and the “idea” of the show is really really good. But the host/writer - Phillips - frustratingly cuts into his own work with weird comments about his own dad jokes and meta (?) points on his own podcasting. If he just did the show I would recommend it as one of the better pods. Out there on this topic. But I’m giving up after only three eps as he seems set on the writing being the point instead of the subject.

“Too wordy”, I thought…initially. Love the intertwining of stories and the relevance the seemingly unrelated details and events have with the goal being discussed. Love it and a perfect appetizer for the Cup. Thank you!

I have really enjoyed learning about the history of the sport as well as learning about larger cultural event surrounding the players and their goals. I also enjoy the silly humor 😆

Really well written. Funny and poignant. The Zidane episode was legendary.

I really really tried with this one.

This is NOT two analysts breaking down every detail of WC goals. This show is enjoyable entertainment with quirky writing and bad jokes. It's written intentionally that way. And yes, it eventually gets around to some classic WC goals. It's different and fun.

Like most chain restaurant crab cakes this Pod is mostly filler. The narrator offers nothing of these goals that hasn’t been said or observed before. Entertaining liberal quips give the Pod more life than the content about soccer.

Soccery, funny, geeky, erudite. A gem.

This man literally said “fire emoji” as an adjective in the first ad I heard for this. This should actually be grounds for cancelling the show for how horribly out of touch it is 😂 cmon bruh who approved that script

Good listen with plenty of information, context, and history…., but would love more POVs especially from the ringer fc group. They’re top class soccer podcasters with such a great perspective of the sport, and more than 1 voice would be a great change of pace

I've never looked forward to Wednesday's more than I have since this show started. I've listened to every episode at least 5x. This show is a gem, informative, silly, heartwarming, joyful. I could listen to Brian talk all day long.

22 Goals has become a weekly “must listen” in my house. Brian Phillips has brought his unique voice to this project - witty, well-researched, well-explained.. In exploring the players’ humanity, he lifts their pedestals even higher. Lovers of the game and casual fans alike can find something wonderful here. I find myself wishing that there were equivalent podcasts for other things, and not just sports. I wish that Brian could give us a similarly voiced podcast of the greatest moments in physics, or the greatest moments in American short story writing.

Brian Phillips is an excellent writer, and he manages to carry his unique voice over to podcasting. It would be hard to find a concept more up my alley than this, but I do think there's something for everyone here.

If anyone on the ringer FC podcast did this instead it would actually be great - unfortunately some nob head is doing it instead. What a shame - good idea bad casting

This has been great!! Reminds me of the soccer I grew up watching and the way the stories are painted with the narration it takes me back to those exciting eras. Well done, keep up the good work. I’ll be listening