Brand

Disney Signs Gary Neville’s Media Company for ‘Stick to Football,’ New Wayne Rooney Show

Published on August 14, 2026

Disney+ has announced a one-year exclusive sponsorship agreement with The Overlap, the football media company founded by former soccer player Gary Neville.

Under the agreement, Disney+ will stream 40 episodes of “Stick to Football,” The Overlap’s flagship show hosted by Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Ian Wright and Roy Keane, with 20 of those episodes exclusive to the platform for a limited period. Disney+ has also commissioned six additional episodes produced specifically for the service. The deal covers a new companion show, “Stick to United with Wayne Rooney,” co-hosted by Rooney and content creator Mark Goldbridge, which will debut with 50 episodes. Both shows will continue to air on YouTube alongside their Disney+ run. “Stick to United with Wayne Rooney” premieres August 18, followed by “Stick to Football” on August 20, both streaming weekly in the UK and Ireland.

The Guardian reported the deal is worth multiple millions of pounds and that The Overlap will retain intellectual property rights to the shows, with Disney+ paying for branding and distribution rather than ownership. The report frames the agreement as a competitive response to Netflix’s backing of Lineker’s “The Rest Is Football,” positioning the two streamers against each other for football podcast audiences.

The Overlap, launched by Neville and former Sky Sports producer Scott Melvin in 2021, has built a following that The Guardian reports drew 38 million monthly YouTube views and 2.2 billion views across all platforms in 2025. Global, the media group behind LBC and The News Agents, acquired a majority stake in The Overlap in January 2026 and followed in April with the acquisition of Goldbridge’s YouTube channels, “The United Stand” and “That’s Football,” according to the Guardian report. The Overlap operates under Global Studios, Global’s podcast and digital division.

The exclusive Disney+ episodes were commissioned by Sean Doyle, Disney+ EMEA’s VP of Unscripted, and Angela Jain, the platform’s head of content.

“We’re immensely proud to be partnering with Disney+,” Neville said in the announcement. “It’s a partnership that expands our reach without compromising our identity.”

Rooney said the new show was “a natural next step” after co-hosting “Stick to Football” and The Overlap’s Fan Debate show with Neville, Carragher, Wright and Keane. Goldbridge called the pairing with Rooney “a historic milestone for fan-led media.”

Doyle said the addition of both shows “broadens our local original content offering as we continue to expand into new sports formats.”