Welcome to the Listening Time podcast.
Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 105 of the Listening Time podcast.
I'm really excited to announce that the Portuguese translation of my e-book is is now available.
So now, if you're a Portuguese speaker, you can buy my ebook and read my collection of short mystery stories in English with the Portuguese translation underneath.
So this will help you understand all the words and phrases that are new for you, just by looking down below and seeing the translation.
So now my e-book is available in Spanish and in Portuguese.
So if you speak either of these two languages, then this book would be a good introduction for you into the world of fiction in English.
So the link to both versions of the book, the Spanish version and the Portuguese version, are both in the episode description below this episode.
So go down there and click on that link if you want that e-book.
So I'm really excited about that.
I don't know if there will be any more translations into other languages.
Probably not.
Spanish and Portuguese are the only two languages that I speak well enough, where I can do a translation on my own using some online tools and then work with a native speaker to correct the parts that I didn't do right.
I can't do that with any other language.
And these translations are not just paid translations, where I just pay a translator to translate them.
I'm actually doing them on my own. and then getting help to correct my translations.
So that's why this book will probably just be available in Spanish and Portuguese, with those translations.
And, of course, if you want my advanced episodes, you can become a Listening Time family member and you'll receive two new advanced episodes every month.
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The link is in the episode description below this episode.
All right.
In today's episode, we're going to talk about the Champions League.
I don't know if you watch soccer or not.
I don't know if you're interested in this, but I know a lot of you probably are.
And even if you're not that interested in soccer, it's always good to listen to me talk about different topics for the sake of your listening practice.
So even if this isn't the most interesting topic in the world for you.
I'm sure it will be good practice for your listening.
So we'll talk about that today.
And of course, you have the transcript available below this episode.
So go down and click on that if you need it.
And if you like this podcast, please give it a five star rating and share it with anyone else you know who's learning English.
All right, let's get started.
Are your ears ready?
You know what time it is.
It's listening time.
Okay, let's talk about the champions league.
So, first of all, why am i talking about this topic today?
Well, at the time of recording this, it is currently uh, towards the end of the champions league tournament.
I think, if i'm not mistaken, the semi-finals just ended, or they're about to end, so we're coming up on the end of the champions league.
The final will probably be pretty soon.
So I thought it would be a good topic to talk about, even though I don't really watch soccer anymore.
I used to watch some soccer in the past.
Nowadays I don't watch anymore don't really watch any sport anymore, to be honest but I think that this is still something that I'd like to talk about, because so many people really like soccer and really like the Champions League, so I thought I should talk about it anyway, even though I don't really watch it anymore.
And I'm sure that there will be a lot of new vocabulary in this episode, so just be ready for that.
So first of all, let's talk about how the Champions League works.
So every year, the top teams from different European leagues, the leagues in different European countries.
The top teams from these leagues are chosen to go to the Champions League and compete against each other in a tournament.
So usually, if I'm not mistaken, it's 32 teams that qualify for the group stage.
So the group stage of the Champions League is the first round, so to say, where there are different groups of teams that play against each other.
And the system that's used for the group stage is called a double round robin.
So the teams play each other and I think they play each other twice.
And that's why it's called a double round robin.
And then there are winners of each group in this stage.
So there are eight groups and then a winner from each group. and then a runner-up.
In English, the term runner-up refers to the team or the person that comes in second place.
So not the winner, but the second place team or the second place athlete.
This is the runner-up.
So in this system, the double round robin system of the Champions League, The winner of each group and the runner up of each group both move on to the next stage.
So the two teams that are at the bottom of each group, unfortunately, they don't get to move on.
They're eliminated.
So that's how the system works.
And the way that you calculate who wins and who's the runner up is through a point system.
Right.
So if one team plays against another team and one team beats the other team, they win.
By the way, in English, we use the verb beat when we talk about winning against someone else.
So we don't say I won him.
We say I beat him.
Okay.
So when one team beats another team, the winning team gets three points and the losing team gets zero points.
And if the two teams tie, in English, the word tie means that nobody wins.
You end with a score of 1-1 or 2-2 or something like that.
We can say that you tie or we can also say that you draw.
I think in the world of soccer, they prefer to use the word draw, if I'm not mistaken.
So if there's a draw, then both teams get one point.
So at the end of this double round robin system, You see who has the most points and who has the second most points, and those teams get to move on.
So that's basically how it works.
So next, after the group stage, once we determine who's the winner and who's the runner-up, they move on to a double-legged knockout phase.
So the reason why it's called double-legged is because you play two matches one match at one team's stadium and the other match at the other team's stadium.
So we can refer to both of these matches as legs, the first leg and the second leg.
So we have this double legged knockout phase, where the teams that have qualified for this phase play against each other, and they'll play two games or two matches against the team that they're matched up against.
By the way, we can use the word match or the word game to refer to something where two teams play each other or two people play against each other.
In the soccer world, I think the word match is normally used, but you could say either one.
And then we can also use the phrasal verb to be matched up against someone.
So if you're matched up against someone, this just means that you are playing that other team in this tournament.
You're matched up against the other team.
So you play two games or two matches with the other team that you're matched up against.
And then, based on the results of those two matches, that will decide who gets to move on to the next round of the tournament.
So that's how it is until you reach the final match.
And then the final match is just one match.
It's just a single leg final.
So that is the only time when you only play the other team once is in the final.
If you're tied at the end of the matches and you need to determine which who's gonna go on to the next round, then you have to play extra time and you also might go to penalties afterwards.
What does this mean?
This means that if you're still tied at the end of the extra time, the two teams do penalty kicks And they try to score all of these penalties, or at least more than the other team.
And then whoever scores more penalties wins.
It kind of works like that.
I'm sure you've seen this before or maybe you've heard of it.
Some people hate penalties, this system of teams going to penalties at the end, because some people feel like it's a matter of luck which determines who wins when it's penalties.
But some people really love this because it's really really exciting to watch the two teams take penalty kicks and you're just waiting to see if they score or if it's blocked.
It's really exciting, but some people don't like it because they feel like there's a lot of luck involved.
I don't know.
I think it's pretty exciting.
I don't really have a big opinion either way.
That's just how it works.
All right, let's talk about the importance of the Champions League.
It's not the same exact feeling as the World Cup.
I think the World Cup is the most exciting soccer event that exists and maybe the most exciting sporting event for many people.
Because it involves the national teams of the different countries and it feels like the whole world is competing.
And that's a pretty cool sensation.
So the World Cup is kind of on a level of its own.
We might say that phrase in English to say that something is above everything else.
It's on a separate level.
So the World Cup is on a level of its own.
But after that, the Champions League might be the next most important competition in it might depend.
Uh, maybe some people really like the euro competition or some other competition, but a lot of people really like the champions league.
So it's one of the most important competitions and it's the most important club competition.
So if we're not talking about national teams, if we're talking about clubs, then the Champions League would be considered the most important one.
Why is that?
Well, it's because it involves the best teams from different countries.
Of course, it's not countries from other continents.
It's only in Europe.
However, most people would agree that the best teams in the world are European teams, European clubs, right.
So if you're really good at soccer, if you're one of the best players in your country, no matter where you live, you're probably going to go to a European club to play professionally.
So that's where the best players play.
And so the best clubs are there.
And so that's why this is the most intense club competition in the world.
And so a lot of people view the Champions League as one of the ultimate prizes.
Teams really want to win the Champions League.
And another reason why it's such a cool competition is because it's probably the best soccer that you'll see in terms of quality because, first of all, it's a club competition.
And clubs get to train all year long and the players have a lot of chemistry with each other.
In English, we say that people have chemistry to mean that they have a good connection.
They understand each other, they work well together, etc.
So the players have really good chemistry because they've been practicing and playing with each other all year and you're not limited to just playing with people from your own country, you're playing with people from other countries.
So that's why a lot of these clubs are really really good, because they have amazing players from different countries playing with each other.
So this is probably the best quality soccer that you'll see.
So the games are really intense.
The players are really good.
And the matches are usually exciting and very fun to watch.
So all in all, this is a really important competition.
So let me talk a little bit about some facts and stats regarding the Champions League.
And remember that I'm recording this in 2023, so if you listen to this in 2025, for example, these stats might be different.
So of course just take that into consideration.
So I hope I got all my facts straight here.
By the way, we can say that you get your facts straight.
This just means that you did the proper research and you're explaining things correctly.
You have the correct data.
So I hope I have my facts straight.
You'll have to forgive me if I'm wrong about any of these.
I tried to look these facts up on different sites before recording this.
So the first fact is that the Champions League was founded in 1955.
However, the format was different in those decades, the early decades of the Champions League.
The current format of the Champions League started in 1992.
I didn't know this.
So I guess for maybe the first half, or maybe more than the first half, of the Champions League's existence, it was a different structure than it is now.
I don't know exactly how it worked, but it wasn't like I described at the beginning of this episode.
So the current format has been going on since 1992.
So this is the format that we see today, more or less with a few rule changes, because every once in a while the rules might change, they might tweak the system a little bit.
This means that you make a minor change, not a big change, just a minor change.
So things get tweaked over the years.
And even recently, I think there was a minor change in the double legged knockout phase.
I think that, before the away goals that you scored, the goals that you scored at the other team's stadium had more significance than the goals that you score at your own stadium.
But I think that now it doesn't work like that, if I'm not mistaken.
I think now they don't really pay attention to away goals or home goals.
I think that that has changed in the recent years.
So that's an example of how this system might change.
And 22 clubs. have won this competition since it started.
And of course, if you listen to this episode years in the future, that number might be higher.
It might be 23 or 24 by the time you listen to it.
But at the time of recording, it's 22 clubs.
And Spanish teams have the most wins.
So teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona and teams like that These are all Spanish clubs.
And so if you look at which country has the most club wins, it would be Spain.
So Spanish teams have the most wins.
And the club that has won it the most is Real Madrid.
So Real Madrid has the most wins.
And England has had the highest number of different clubs that have won.
So Spain has had the most club wins in general, but fewer Spanish teams have won the Champions League.
So more English teams have won it, but in total, Spanish teams have more wins.
But England has more clubs that have won it.
I hope you understand that.
And then at the time of recording the all time leading scorer.
The all time top scorer of the Champions League is Cristiano Ronaldo.
So he's at the top right now.
And he's also the person with the most assists.
He's also at the top of that list.
But I think that that record will probably be broken pretty soon.
So by the time you listen to this, that might not be true anymore.
There might be someone else at the top of the assist list.
So that's just who's at the top right now.
But as you can see, Cristiano Ronaldo has really dominated in the Champions League over the years.
And lastly, talking about how the Champions League compares to, let's say, US sports competitions.
So in the US few people even really know about the champions league.
There are very few people that really understand the significance of this league.
There are very few people that watch it compared to other sports that are watched in the us.
So people that aren't soccer fans in the us will still watch the world cup Not everyone, of course, but many people that don't normally watch soccer will watch the World Cup.
However, they won't watch the Champions League.
They probably don't even know what the Champions League is.
I think most people in the US have no idea what this is.
So that shows you that this isn't that big of a deal in the United States.
So in the US, the sports competitions that people watch are usually just national leagues.
We just watch different teams from the United States play against each other.
We don't really watch international competitions that much.
So in our professional basketball league or American Football League, it's teams from the US playing against each other, or maybe one team from Canada as well.
And then that's it.
We don't have these other competitions where we play against other countries.
That exists a little bit in the Olympics, right?
We have the basketball competition in the Olympics where countries play against each other.
But in general, people here don't really care that much about international competitions.
It's all domestic.
This is what's important here.
And so people here aren't really fans of foreign teams or foreign sports.
There are a few people, but in general people don't know much about foreign sports or foreign teams.
They might have heard the name Real Madrid before.
But they probably don't know much at all about this club or its history, or even just how European soccer works.
That would be a complete mystery to most people here.
So lastly, I just want to mention my favorite memory from the Champions League.
So that would be the three Real Madrid wins that came consecutively in the last decade.
I used to watch Real Madrid play and it was really exciting to watch them win three times.
That was really cool.
So that was the time when I was maybe a bigger soccer fan.
I was more invested in watching this sport, watching real madrid.
But nowadays i don't really watch anymore and the champions league doesn't have the same significance for me.
But i'll always have that memory of those real madrid wins.
That happened a little less than a decade ago.
That was something that was special for me at the time because I liked that team and it was great to see them win many times.
All right, why don't we stop there for today?
I hope this episode was interesting for you.
And even if it wasn't, I'm sure it was good practice for your listening.
Remember that if you're a Spanish or a Portuguese speaker, you can buy my e-book now and you'll get my collection of short mystery stories written in English and translated into either Spanish or Portuguese.
So the links are in the episode description below this episode.
And if you want my advanced episodes, make sure to become a Listening Time family member and you'll get two new advanced episodes every month.
So the link is also in the description below this episode.
All right.
Thank you for listening to this episode.
And I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
