Stick to Football : Wayne Rooney's Disney+ Series

Wayne Rooney and Manchester United are inseparable. With 253 goals in all competitions for the club, Rooney remains United's all-time record scorer, a stat that needs no embellishment. Now, that iconic connection gets its own dedicated show on Disney+, and we've been tracking exactly when and where you can watch it.

Two football shows land on Disney+ this August

Disney+ has just announced a one-year exclusive partnership with The Overlap, the digital sports media outfit backed by Global Studios, one of the world's leading media and entertainment groups. The deal covers two distinct shows heading to the platform for the 2026/2027 football season : Stick to Football and the brand-new Stick to United with Wayne Rooney.

Stick to Football is already a well-established, multi-award-winning podcast. Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Ian Wright, and Roy Keane host it together, pulling in high-profile guests to dissect the game from every angle. 40 new episodes will stream on Disney+, with 20 of those exclusive to the platform for a limited window. Beyond that, Disney+ has commissioned 6 additional UK-exclusive episodes featuring a range of special guests, signed off by Sean Doyle, VP of Unscripted at Disney+ EMEA, and Angela Jain, Head of Content for the same division.

The second show is the one generating the most buzz right now. Stick to United with Wayne Rooney pairs the Manchester United legend with Mark Goldbridge, founder of The United Stand YouTube channel, for a deep dive into everything Red Devils. Results, performances, talking points, honest opinions, the format promises no filter and no fluff.

Gary Neville summed up the ambition clearly : "We're not changing who we are. Our community will continue to enjoy our content in exactly the way they always have through YouTube, while Disney+'s incredible global streaming audience will now be able to discover and enjoy it too." That dual-platform approach matters. Both shows remain available on existing streaming platforms and their respective YouTube channels, so nothing gets locked away entirely.

What to expect from Stick to United with Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney hosting a Manchester United show isn't a surprise move, it's the logical next step. He already appeared on Stick to Football and The Overlap's Fan Debate format, so the chemistry with the wider team is established. The difference here is focus : every episode centres exclusively on United, match by match, week by week.

Mark Goldbridge, who has built The United Stand into one of the most prominent fan-led football channels on YouTube, called the partnership "a historic milestone for fan-led media." That's not just promotional talk. Bringing a grassroots fan channel into a deal with a global streaming giant like Disney+ is genuinely unusual in sports media.

Here's what the show structure looks like at a glance :

• 50 episodes commissioned for the 2026/2027 season
• Weekly releases starting Tuesday 18th August 2026
• Available on Disney+, existing platforms, and The United Stand YouTube channel
• Extended episode content exclusive to Disney+
• Co-hosted by Wayne Rooney and Mark Goldbridge

Rooney also mentioned that The Real Rooneys, a separate Disney+ show featuring himself, Coleen, and their four sons, is due to premiere on the platform soon. So his presence on Disney+ is becoming a multi-show commitment, not a one-off.

Both shows will be available in the UK and Ireland. If you follow sports drama on streaming platforms, the timing is interesting : the mid-season trailer for Rivals season 2 already signals that Disney+ is pushing hard on high-profile British content across multiple genres this autumn.

Disney+ and the podcast bet : is it working ?

This deal is part of a broader strategy. Disney+ is clearly investing in the video podcast format, particularly within British sports content. Sean Doyle framed it as part of "a new era of sports entertainment" on the platform, complementing drama, documentary, and ESPN content already available.

Honest take from our side : licensing existing shows rather than building original studio formats is a lower-risk move. It gives Disney+ real audience data on whether football podcast content travels on a streaming platform, without committing to full in-house production costs. If the numbers hold up, expect more original commissions. If they don't, the deal wraps after one season with limited damage.

That said, the lineup is hard to ignore. Neville, Carragher, Wright, Keane, and Scott together on one show is the kind of punditry combination most broadcasters would pay heavily to assemble. Adding Rooney on a dedicated United show gives the Red Devils fanbase, one of the largest in world football, a very specific reason to subscribe or stay subscribed.

For anyone who wants to keep track of exactly where these episodes land and when they hit the platform, checking availability across streaming services before each weekly drop will save you a lot of searching. Stick to United with Wayne Rooney kicks off first, on 18th August 2026. Two days later, Stick to Football follows. The 2026/2027 season is about to have its own dedicated soundtrack.