53 Minutes

How does a below average footballer find his way onto football’s biggest stage?

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Award-winning comedian Josh Widdicombe and Mock The Week's Dara Ó Briain host a six-part podcast to uncover the weird and wonderful truth behind the biggest mystery in football history - Ali Dia playing in the Premier League.

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In each episode, Josh and Dara explore the exceptional circumstances that allowed a below average, amateur football player to hustle his way onto football’s most elite stage, by speaking to those who were there.

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53 Minutes takes listeners back in time, to an era when Gianfranco Zola, Eric Cantona and Alan Shearer were at the top of their football game and were joined by none other than Ali Dia – for 53 minutes only. 

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Guests joining to give their take on whether Ali Dia was a hoaxer or a hustler include footballers Matt Le Tissier, Ken Monkou, Francis Benali, Paul Thompson, Peter Harrison and Simo Valakari as well as football journalists Ed Aarons, Frank Simon, Amy Lawrence, Graham Nickless, John Gibson, Graham Hiley, Steve Menary, Kelly Naqi and former football agent Winston Makamure, Southampton club historian Duncan Holley, Mady Touré who is the CEO of Generation Foot and of course, Graeme Souness - the manager of Southampton FC at the time.