Football fans looking to impress friends with their football knowledge have today been given a lifeline, as global music streaming service Deezer announces an all new football-focused podcast in partnership with the real-time football stats platform Squawka.

Defending in Numbers, the new weekly Deezer Original podcast, will be available to stream every Thursday, giving fans the chance to get up to speed with the latest facts, stats and spats from the world of football before the weekend games kick off.

The announcement reinforces Deezer’s commitment to bringing fans closer to the beautiful game, building on its position as the exclusive source of live audio commentary for 380 Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League matches across Europe through its partnership with TalkSport.

It’s an interesting time for football podcasts with it being an easy to access place for both creators and listeners. Recently the big news for those who follow footie podcasts was James Richardson moving away from The Guardian’s Football Weekly, and his very successful show, to his new home at Muddy Knees Media for the Totally Football Show.

With more sports podcasts appearing as the format gains more and more fans (and becomes easier to find and follow your favourite shows) we will see it become more professional and bigger ‘stars’ appearing. But hopefully without losing the intimate feel that the medium works so well with.

Here’s some of the official quotes from today’s announcement…

Rhys Griffiths, Deezer’s UK Talk Editor, commented: “With the return of the Premier League and the accompanying buzz around the start of the new football season, we wanted to get into the conversation around the game and arm our listeners with the knowledge they need to enhance their enjoyment of the weekend’s action.

“We’re delighted to have teamed up with Squawka to produce Defending in Numbers. These guys are one of the leading names in the world of online football news, and they have a great reputation for using stats to illuminate the big stories on the pitch that capture the excitement of fans around the world.

“Defending in Numbers is here to help all fans of the beautiful game to grow their knowledge, arming them with the facts and figures to settle that week’s big debate over pre-match pints at the pub.”

George Prior, Squawka Commercial said: “We are delighted to be working with Deezer.

“Uniting Squawka with a leading name in the world of music streaming to produce truly unique content for football fans around the world is something we are very excited to be part of.

We are proud to be the latest addition of partners to the Deezer Originals Series and are looking forward to taking football fans’ knowledge of the game to the next level. “

Listeners can tune in to the debut episode of Defending in Numbers, the latest Deezer Original podcast, from today here.