Apple's After the Whistle podcast is returning for a third season, and with the World Cup landing in North America next month, the timing couldn't be sharper. Brendan Hunt — the man behind Coach Beard in Ted Lasso — and NBC/Fox Sports presenter Rebecca Lowe will co-host again, breaking down matches and key moments throughout the tournament.
The first episode drops June 7. From there, new instalments will land multiple times a week, timed to follow the biggest games. Audio and video versions will be available on Apple News, Apple Podcasts, and across all major podcast platforms.
A duo that actually knows the game
What makes this pairing worth your time isn't the celebrity angle — it's that both hosts are genuine football obsessives. Lowe has spent years fronting Premier League coverage for NBC Sports and is part of Fox's World Cup 2026 broadcast team. Hunt co-created a show that, love it or loathe it, got more people talking about football tactics and culture than most actual football programming managed.
Hunt put it plainly: "The World Cup is always unpredictable except for one thing — it's guaranteed to repeatedly leave me an emotional wreck." That's not PR-speak. Anyone who's watched a World Cup group stage decider at 3am knows exactly what he means.
Lowe added that their conversations typically involve "hysterical laughter, a few tears, or something in between" — which, honestly, is a reasonable forecast for a tournament this size hosted across the US, Canada, and Mexico.
What to expect from the tournament backdrop
A 48-team World Cup sprawling across three countries is going to generate content — controversies, upsets, tactical chaos — on a scale that rewards a fast-turnaround podcast format. The "hours following momentous games" release window is smart. Reaction while the moment is still raw beats a polished Monday morning recap every time.
For those tracking the tournament through a betting lens, a reliable post-match breakdown that cuts through noise quickly has real utility — especially across a group stage this compressed and unpredictable.
Apple's Eddy Cue said the duo "capture the energy and passion of the World Cup." Whether that holds up across what could be 60-plus games remains the actual test. Season 3 debuts June 7.
