GOLDEN BALL PODCAST

Playing the game of life better
Jung Platform launched an eight episode podcast about what soccer can teach us beyond the pitch, during the 2026 World Cup.

The two Jung Platform founders joined a former World Cup player to explore one theme through both the game and everyday life. Together, they discussed ambition, identity, self belief, creativity, criticism, loss, winning, and endings. Each conversation connected experiences from soccer to the psychological patterns that shape how we live, work, compete, and relate to others.

Rather than analyzing tactics or results, the series focused on the questions the game raises. What drives ambition? How does criticism become an inner voice? What does losing ask of us? What kind of success is actually worth pursuing?

All eight episodes are available below.

What themes are covered?

Striving for gold

self belief

Identity

Creativity

How to deal with criticism

when
the dream ends

When
winning matters

after the match

What is the Golden Ball Podcast?

The golden ball takes soccer as a living metaphor for living life. 

Everything that happens on the pitch also happens at home, at work, and in everyday life. 
  • What is winning really about? 
  • How do we deal with setbacks?
  • What drives us, consciously and unconsciously, in the way we play the game of life?

Meet your hosts

Each episode, three depth psychologists, one of them a former World Cup player, gather around one theme from the game and follow it somewhere deeper. 

John O'Brien

John O'Brien is a former Olympic and World Cup soccer player. He is a sports psychologist who combines performance tools with sand, symbols, and imagination to help athletes and others perform and understand themselves more deeply.

Machiel Klerk

Machiel Klerk is a psychotherapist in New York City, author, founder of Jung Platform, and lifelong lover of the game. 

Akke-Jeanne Klerk

Akke-Jeanne Klerk is a personal development coach, teacher, author, and co-founder of Jung Platform. 

Is the Golden Ball Podcast for you?

This podcast series is ideal if you want to:

Learn how depth psychology can help you play the game of life in a more fulfilling way.
Explore depth psychology through the universal language of soccer.
Bring psychological awareness to how you respond to pressure, failure, and success.
Discover what your own gold is, and how you are currently trying to reach it.
See the game and your own life through a richer, deeper lens.

for the love of the game