{"podcast":{"title":"What in the World","slug":"what-in-the-world-6570991","podcast_index_feed_id":6570991,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/w13xtvrv.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvrv","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0jq7pnj.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":789,"summary":"Helping you make sense of what’s happening in your world. Big stories, small stories and everything in between. Understand more, feel better. Five days a week, Monday to Friday.","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T02:17:48.456188+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-in-the-world-6570991"},"episode":{"title":"Flag-switching: Why more World Cup footballers aren’t playing for their birth nations","slug":"flag-switching-why-more-world-cup-footballers-aren-t-playing-for-their-birth-nations","published_at":"2026-07-01T13:38:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-in-the-world-6570991/flag-switching-why-more-world-cup-footballers-aren-t-playing-for-their-birth-nations","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-in-the-world-6570991","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct9924","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0nw53d9.mp3","summary":"The 2026 Fifa Men's World Cup has the highest proportion ever of players representing countries they were not born in - almost a quarter of all the participating players. Several squads, including those from DR Congo, Morocco and Bosnia & Herzegovina, have a team made up mostly of foreign-born players. Of the 26 players who represented Curaçao, only one was born on the Caribbean island. Fernando Duarte, a reporter with the BBC World Service, explains why more World Cup footballers aren’t playing for their birth nations. He also highlights how Morocco, the only African team ever to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup, has successfully recruited players from its diaspora. We also hear from football fans around the world about the foreign-born players representing Cape Verde, Curaçao, Morocco and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: William Lee Adams Editor: Verity Wilde","meta_description":"The 2026 Fifa Men's World Cup has the highest proportion ever of players representing countries they were not born in - almost a quarter of all the partic…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":743,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-in-the-world-6570991/episodes/flag-switching-why-more-world-cup-footballers-aren-t-playing-for-their-birth-nations/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-in-the-world-6570991/flag-switching-why-more-world-cup-footballers-aren-t-playing-for-their-birth-nations.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}